Power Rangers In Space: Beginings and Endings
by sailoratomic
Summary: The Rangers take off for Edenio and along the way a new adventure awaits them.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Along with the others I looked at the view of space, it appeared endless and vast and....peaceful. _Peaceful, my life used to be peaceful, and so was my mom's and my dad's._ I thought sadly. I thought of all the people that I knew, that I have grown close to over the years, whose peaceful lives have been shattered by the evil that has surrounded me for so long, _and no matter how hard I fight, or how hard I try to protect the people that I care about, they are still touched by this evil. _I glanced at my teammates who were looking out the window and were exclaiming over the vastness and what they saw. _I just hope I can do a better job of protecting them._ I turned my attention back to my own window and looked at all the planets that we were passing and idly wondered if one of them was Eltar when my computer began to beep rapidly. I whipped my head toward it.

"What is it Amy?"

"Is it Divatox?"

"Is it Goldar?" I continued to look at the screen for a few more moments, then I turned toward the others.

"I–it's a ship and its heading straight toward us!" Surprise registered on all of their faces. They began to ask whether it was an enemy ship, and does the shuttle have any weapons. I shook my head at TJ.

"No. But I'll use what little power I have to protect us." I looked at my computer again, trying to see if I could hail it and find out if the people on the ship were friend or foe. I typed in a message and was all prepared to send it to this ship when I noticed to my surprise that it was right on top of us! What was worse was that the hatch of the other ship was opening, and a blue beam that came from the ship engulfed the shuttle. It was a retractor beam! I struggled to mentally push us away from the gaping hole that was the other ship's hatch, which was prepared to swallow us whole. But I was low on power plus I was exhausted, so there was nothing I could do except listen to my fast beating heart which was filled with fear as to who or what had captured us. That fear also mingling with the fact that my team mates and I could no longer defend ourselves. I took small comfort in the fact that I still had my sword with me and if I was to be killed in unknown place in the outskirts of space....then so be it, I thought of my friends and loved ones and began to regret not alerting them to the dangerous journey that I partook in. Our ship had entered the belly of the other ship, and for a moment everything went dark. Then bright lights flashed on, momentarily blinding all of us. I raised one hand to shield my face, as soon as my eyes adjusted, I lowered my hand and looked out my window and saw what looked like a wall, I turned my head this way and that trying to get a better view but I couldn't see much. I kept expecting the shuttle's door to open to reveal an enemy, possibly Goldar, I also kept excepting to hear voices and shouts coming from the outside of our captured ship......but for some reason there was nothing. We all waited a few moments, glancing uncertainly at each other and looking nervously at the door, sure that it would burst open at any moment and we would be dragged off to our deaths. But nothing happened. Finally the silence, which seemed to be ringing inside my head got to be too much for me. Unstrapping myself from my seat and unhooking my computer from the shuttle's console, I stood up and made my way past the others, unconsciously wrapping up the extension cord and putting it back in it's compartment, who were still looking around in fear. I reached the door and stretched out a hand to unlatch it, but I hesitated. We had no idea what kind of ship that had captured us, much less what kind of people are on it. I glanced at my computer hoping that it could give me a read out on what was out there. But my computer replied back :**Unknown**__I swallowed hard, I began to debate whether it was worth the risk leaving the safety of the shuttle. But if whoever or whatever came bursting into the shuttle to attack us, we would be no match in its small confines. I stood there for a moment hardly aware that the others had joined me. I looked at surprise when I saw TJ and the others, they all looked back at me. I turned back to the door, took a deep breath , pushed down on the latch, opened the door and stepped through it.

I stepped out onto a carpeted floor. I looked down at it in surprise. _Carpet? _In the back of my mind I was dimly aware that the only space ships that I have been captured in or taken upon had no carpet, only steel floor, the better to send fear rushing down a prisoner's spine when their captor was coming toward them. Ahead of us was a long hallway, brightly lit. The walls on either side of us had columns and windows. _Well, might as well not hang around here. Whoever commands this ship could be coming for us._

"Let's go." I said in a low voice to the rookies. I limped forward, and the others followed. Halfway down the hallway, was a plague. Cassie said the words that were on it out loud.

"**Astro Megaship**." I looked at it for a moment puzzled. _Must be the name of the ship._ Going onward we passed doors that looked as if they were made of steel and beside the doors were keypads. Beyond that we crept a room, there were no lights in there, except for the glow of a machine and the way that it was glowing I geussed that it was the engine, which shone red on all of our faces and bodies. We all looked around, trying to peer into the darkness in the corners of the room, after a few moments we exited the room and with A-6 trailing behind us we continued to creep down the hall. We came to a fork in the hall way, to the left of us was, it appeared, to be the computer room, Carlos peered into it. TJ spoke which made the rest of us all jump.

"Okay, we'll split up into two teams, try and find whoever runs this ship." I glanced at him and nodded.

"Amy, Carlos check out that room right there. Cassie and I'll check out what's down this hall." Carlos looked uncertain but followed me as I limped into the room. The computer room had two computers facing opposite ends of each other with a transparent screen on top which had the solar system. Like the hallway, it had windows looking out into space. To the right of me over on the wall were some lockers, my eyes narrowed as I studied them. They all had strips of paint that looked like Ranger colors. _Could the owners of this ship be Power Rangers as well? Why haven't they shown themselves?_ I looked in front of me and saw Ranger colored chutes. I limped over to them, climbed the stairs that led to them and peered into the darkness beyond. _Better not chance it._ I thought to myself fighting an urge to crawl into one of the openings and see where it led to. Limping down the stairs again I saw that Carlos was inspecting a machine that was on the wall to my right, it had the plague **Synthetron.**I limped over to one of the computers and looked down at it for a moment, wondering if I should plug in my own computer and find out what exactly this ship was and who manned it._ But if I plug in my computer I'll probably alert whoever that runs this ship of our presence_. After a few more minutes of thinking I turned away thinking that I had better concentrate on finding out if _anyone was on this ship_. So far we haven't met a soul, it appeared abandoned. I bumped into a chair that had been behind me. Letting out a startled gasp, I looked down and saw that attached to the right side of the computer was a plate of food. It looked half eaten. My stomach rumbled at the sight of it. My last meal had seemed so long ago, and I was tempted to take some of the food on the plate. But I restrained myself dimly remembering those few times that I had gotten yelled at for taking food that wasn't mine from the kitchen table. I backed away from it and turned to face Carlos, who had come around and was also staring at the plate. TJ and the others came in just then, and reported that they couldn't find any sign of life on the ship. Carlos and I pointed out the plate of food.

"Maybe whoever was eating this food left the ship for some reason or another and hasn't come back yet." I suggested. TJ nodded thoughtful.

"Come on let's check out the rest of this ship." He said as he, Carlos and Cassie and A-6 all trooped out of the computer room and down the hall. I stared after them for a bit, suddenly wishing that it were Tommy and my friends who were with me investigating this ship instead of the rookies. Sighing I limped after them. Going down the hall we came to another room, I let out a surprised grunt at the vastness of the room, the others let out gasps.

"This must be the bridge." said Carlos. I nodded but didn't say anything. Each of the walls to our left and right had consoles with chairs, in front of us on the far wall, was the main screen, and before us were more consoles along with chairs before each and every one of them. _Hmm, reminds me a bit of the Enterprise_. I thought, I was a big fan of Star Trek. Turning my attention back to the room at large, while the others went around and began to investigate the various consoles, I noticed that there were five main chairs and five main consoles. _Five. Definitely Ranger numbers._ Suddenly I thought of the Aquatar Rangers. _Maybe they are the ones that own this ship._ Excitement started to go through me but then I thought. _But why didn't Billy contact me and tell us that the Rangers had a ship like this? And why didn't they hail us when we were within sight of each other? No. This ship must belong to an entirely different team of Rangers, probably one that Dad himself doesn't know about. _A-6 went over to one of the computers and began to push buttons, I glanced at him. I let out a grunt as TJ asked him what he was doing and A-6 responded in gibberish. I opened up my own computer and began typing myself, it was a bit strange that my friends hadn't contacted me. _Surely Justin would have told Tommy and the others about what had happened by now._ I thought. My mind shifted over to Dex, and felt a pang in my heart. _I wonder if any of his people have alerted him of Edenio's fall. Still if they haven't.....then....I don't even want to think about what might have happened to the Edenities. _I thought of my father and Tentomon. _I hope they're okay. I wonder why they didn't contact me or send an S.O.S._ I wanted very much to figure out how to get off this ship, and turn the shuttle back to our original destination. To Edenio. But.....I couldn't just leave the rookies. Not out here. Powerless and defenseless, where they would be at the mercy of both Divatox and Goldar. I looked out a window and drew in a breath. Before us loomed a large orange planet, the others crowded around behind me and let out gasps of awe.

"Incredible." said Carlos. Cassie nodded in agreement. TJ called over to A-6.

"Alpha what planet is that? Maybe we can figure out where we are." I glanced down at my computer and was about to answer TJ but then stopped myself. _Better let them try to answer this question themselves, I don't want them relying on me for answers. _I began to remember how my friends and I would always rely on dad for answers concerning the monsters that would be sent down to Angel Grove and how we began to rely on ourselves when Dimitria took over. I began to pray that dad was alright.

I sat down in one of the chairs feeling the tiredness in my body. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes for just a moment. One of the computers beeped. I cracked open one eye and looked at A-6 as he began to gesture wildly for everyone to gather around him. I stayed where I was while the others gathered around A-6.

"What is it Alpha?" asked TJ. They all turned when a Red Ranger appeared in the doorway and froze when he caught sight of us. The others stared at him. I became fully awake and slowly stood up. For a moment no one spoke. Finally taking a breath and stepping forward slowly so as not to appear threatening TJ spoke.

"Hi. Um....listen we.....um.....came onto your ship....but not by choice." He took another step forward while the Red Ranger took a step back and continued to step back until he was in the hallway, then he took off. I glared at TJ as he, Carlos and Cassie dashed off after him._ Nice going._ I thought as I limped after them as fast as I could. Down the hall we raced, around a corner just in time to see the Ranger disappear down a hatch in the floor, TJ reached it first, he opened it up and peered down. Below was a ladder, TJ went down first, then Cassie, Carlos then me. We landed in another hallway and began to dart down it.

"We just want to talk." I shouted. We rounded a corner, I let out a gasp as the Ranger appeared in front of us and began to attack.

"Stop!" Shouted TJ as he blocked a kick but was sent flying by a punch. Carlos tried to restrain him, but was also punched back. I danced out of the way and ducked as the Ranger focused on me. Cassie was nearly kicked in the face as I ducked but Carlos managed to push her out of the way. Suddenly we all cried out as the ship lurched to the left and we all went tumbling against the wall. Before we could even begin to struggle to our feet, the Ranger leapt up, darted toward a door that was across from us and dart inside the room, while at the same time, pressing a button on the console that was on the wall right next to the door. It slammed shut. TJ managed to regain his footing and was trying to opened it. The rest of us stood up also and were staring at each other. While they were exclaiming over the appearance of the Ranger and came to the conclusion that the ship that we were in must be his and that the reason he attacked us was because he thought we were possible enemies, I was looking at the door, oblivious to their chatter. _This Ranger, must be like the Aquatar Rangers, the Phantom Ranger and the Gold Ranger. He must be a Ranger from a different planet. Does he know about us? Is that why his ship captured our shuttle? But then why attack us? Wait....he couldn't have known. He acted pretty startled when he saw us on the bridge. If he wasn't the one that led our shuttle into this ship then who did? _I was jolted out of my thoughts when another shake sent me tumbling to the floor, I managed to steady myself but another shake sent me staggering again, I clung to the wall for support and turned to TJ, I was surprised to see that A-6 was with us.

"Someone must be after him." He said as he was thrown against Cassie.

"Yeah. But who?" She asked. My first thought was that Goldar knew that I had left earth and had tracked me down and was attacking the ship because he knew that I was on it. I was knocked off my feet again. _But then if he does know that I'm here, why doesn't he teleport himself onto the ship. Unless.....it's not Goldar that's attacking. Another space pirate?_ I thought as I gave up trying to stand up right. I crouched on the floor and watched the others as they continued to be tossed about against the walls and the floor. Whoever was blasting the ship was doing a pretty good job what with how the ship was rocking. I glanced up and saw with a thrill of horror that the lights were dimming. _The ship must be losing power._ TJ also noticed and began to look around. He staggered to his feet and began to pull himself along the wall.

"Come on." He tried to rally us.

"We have to help him." Carlos and Cassie both began to follow him as he made his way down the hall. I stared at the rookies as they staggered past me nearly being knocked off their feet as the ship lurched to the right. _Help? That Ranger that attacked us? We don't know if he even wants our help_. But I remembered the creed of the Power Rangers. _Help all those that are in need._ I took a breath and let it out. _Okay._ I thought as I began to duck walk after the rookies. Imagine my surprise when down the hall I saw the rookies in front of the door that led into the Engine Room. I stared at it for a minute, while the others were struggling to open the door that had nearly closed shut. _All hallways must led to the same place._ I thought as I stood up, staggered over to the others, shouldered my way to the door, gripped it and opened it easily. Without a moments thought(or a thank you) the rookies all rushed into the room. I limped in after them. They were all looking around. Cassie spotted it and pointed upward.

"Look up there!"

"It's that cable, it came unplugged." said TJ.

"That's why the ship is losing power." said Carlos. _And altitude. _I thought as I felt the ship's sharp decline. I gave a yelp as I tried to stop myself from doing a face plant.. I managed to catch myself by moving forward and slamming into the wall. Turning back to the others I saw to my horror that TJ was climbing toward the plug that gave of bursts of electricity now and then.

"TJ! What–?" I cried out as the ship gave another lurch and I flew sideways. Hearing the others give out shouts I looked up. TJ was climbing a ladder and was holding on for dear life trying to not be shaken off. As the ship righten itself, he began to climb up again, until a another blast from the enemy that rocked the ship sent TJ flying to the ground. Carlos, Cassie and A-6 were at his side and helping him up. TJ moved toward the ladder again, but I staggered to my feet and began to concentrate. The cable moved on it's own back toward its plug, the others stared at it astonishment on their faces. I kept up my concentration even as the shaking ship sent me to the floor, finally the cable was plugged in again. The engine and the lights lit up strongly. For a few moments the ship righten itself and kept up a steady course. But it was back to the rumbling and shaking, only this time it sent us all flying out into the hall and slammed us against the walls. Finally the rumbling and shaking stopped and we all helped each other to our feet. _Takes me back to when my friends and I were Zord battling in the Angel Grove mountains._ I thought, I rubbed the back of my head where it had been hit by the wall. _Only back then, at least we had seatbelts. _

"Is everyone alright?" I asked, they all nodded but our heads turned when we all heard the sound of running footsteps. The Red Ranger appeared, stopped and stared at us.

"Who are you?" He snarled. I felt annoyance raise within me. But before I could tell off the Ranger TJ spoke up.

"We're the Power Rangers." There was a moment of silence from the Ranger. _Okay looks like he hasn't heard about us._

"Power Rangers?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow. _He doesn't know what a ranger is, when he clearly is one?_ Carlos spoke up.

"From earth." The Ranger was about to speak when a voice that seemed to come out of nowhere interrupted him.

"Sensors indicate that Astronema's ship is landing." _Astronema? Who's she? Was she the one that attacked us?_ Without another word the Ranger turned and dashed off back down the hall. I scowled. _I'm sounded by ingrates._ TJ and the others were looking at each other, the very same questions that I had thought were evident on their faces. They took off after him. I stood still for a moment. _Rookies._ I thought annoyingly as I limped after them We followed the Ranger back to the bridge, where he was busy looking at the screen. I peered over his shoulder and saw that we had crash landed on a planet, from the view from the screen, the planet reminded me of Edenio. No vegetation, nothing but sand and rocks. I jumped as the voice suddenly spoke up.

"Astronema's forces are disembarking." TJ took a step toward the Ranger.

"Listen _we are_ the Power Rangers.....or at least we were." He said when he caught the look that Cassie gave him. On the screen appeared these....creatures with what looked like body armor and long blades.

"Quantrons." breathed the Ranger.

"Look, we were on our way to Edenio to help out Zordon and....." _Am I the only one that knows that right now is not the time to tell our story?_ I thought with a growing sense of anger. Before I could unleash it though, the Ranger had turned his head slightly towards us at the mention of dad. I peered at him. Before I could think though, the voice once again spoke up and informed us that the Quantrons were heading this way and were in an attack position.

"D.E.C.A, can we take off? What's our status?" asked the Ranger. _DECA? Is that the name of the voice?_

"Negative." said the ship. I looked around trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from.

"The Mega accelerator is disabled. Flight is impossible. All weapons are down. All systems are running on auxiliary power." The Ranger shook his head, then he turned, and started toward us. At first I thought that he was going to attack again but instead he pushed pass us and out into the hall.

"Open the outer space hatch." He instructed as the door closed after him. TJ, Carlos and Cassie dashed after him slipping through a crack before the door fully closed.. My mouth dropped open in outrage as I heard TJ shout.

"Wait! We're coming with you!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I limped after my team mates, fury and disbelief roaring through me.  
"A-6, stay in the ship." I called over my shoulder. _Are they completely nuts?_ _How could they go into battle when they no longer have the protection of their Ranger suits? Hell, they can't even morph into Rangers! _I finally caught up with them as they were running down a ramp that led to the outside. I reached out to grab Carlos who was at the back of the group.  
"Stop! You'll get yourselves killed! You're not Rangers anymore!" I shouted desperately as I clung to Carlos arm, TJ and Cassie both stopped and turned toward me.  
"Look, we have to do something. He needs our help!" TJ attempting to dash away but I released Carlos and grabbed TJ's arm.  
"You aren't going to help him by getting slaughtered!" TJ turned toward me, there was a fire in his eyes that reminded me of Tommy.  
"We have to help him, he's a fellow Ranger!" He twisted away from my grip and took off. After a last look at me Cassie and Carlos followed. I saw the Ranger unleash a flying kick at the Quantrons, the rookies charged at the rest of them. I stood for a minute and stared at them. I shook myself, and concentrated. My sword appeared in my hand, then I began to dash forward and joined in the fight that the rookies were losing. _Idiots._ I flung myself on the Quantrons that were beating up Carlos, I slashed at them with my sword which crackled with energy. I concentrated and flung them away. They exploded in mid air reaching down I picked up Carlos roughly by the arm.  
"Let's go!" I shouted as I raised my sword and flung myself at several Quantrons that had surrounded Cassie. Sending a flying kick and knocking the Quantron aside. I sent it flying and turned away without even seeing where it landed. I turned and faced another, I ducked low and my fists began to pummel the Quantron's face and chest, with an uppercut to the chin I sent it flying. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Ranger just standing there, watching as the rookies got their butts kicked! Fury shot throw me and I screamed at him  
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU RED IDIOT! HELP US OUT HERE OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR BUTT FROM HERE TO ELTAR!!" The Ranger looked startled to be spoken in such a fashion but he did as he was told, flinging onto the next batch of Quantrons that were racing at him. I paused for a moment to see how we were faring, _this bunch only seems to be a small attack group. But more could be unleashed on us, and I'm not sure if the rookies can take any more._ Not too far away I saw TJ writhing as he fought vainly to free himself from several Quantrons that had lifted him above their shoulders while one of them was underneath him, using it's blade to stab at TJ's back. I rushed forward, swopped low and swung my arm out, sent the Quantron with the blade crashing into one of it's fellows, aimed a low kick to the first Quantron that was holding TJ's legs. It leapt over my sweeping leg, took out it's blade and began to slash at me. I leaped back and in one motion slid my sword into it's sheath, summoned power, brought the heels of my hands together and unleashed it.  
"Power Blast!" The other Quantrons who were holding TJ's arms were blown back. TJ began to fall, I slipped underneath him and caught him. I gently laid him on the ground, TJ had pain on his face, he gritted his teeth as he looked up at me.  
"You're going to be alright TJ." He nodded, then winced in pain.  
"Sorry." I looked down at him in annoyance.  
"Hey, you may have not listened to me and you may be an idiot for nearly getting killed but hey. You, Carlos and Cassie are the last defense for earth right?" As gently as I could I rolled him onto his right side.  
"W---what are you.....?" TJ stammered.  
"Hold still TJ." I said as I laid my other hand on the stab wounds in his back, my hand glowed and soon nothing remained of TJ's wounds. I helped TJ up. He seemed surprised that he was no longer in pain, he turned and stared at me.  
"How did you....?" I rolled my eyes.  
"I told you, Zordon gave us old school Rangers some of his power to help us in the war with Lord Zedd." I grinned at him, patted him on the shoulder, spun around and charged at some Quantrons that had Cassie pinned down. I leapt up, the Quantrons abandoned Cassie and charged toward me. The Quantrons were almost within striking distance. Even though they were in a line, I managed to slip through the smallest of gaps, spinning in mid-air so that I faced them I propelled my body toward them. Ducking low, I grabbed their legs and yanked hard, taken by surprise they released their weapons, I began to swing them in a wide circle.  
"Thank you for flying Yellow Ranger airlines, I hope that you have enjoyed your flight, please remain seated into you have come to a complete crash." Finally I released them, they flew through the air. I watched as they crashed a dozen miles from us. I turned back to the battle on the ground below me, I flew through the Quantrons that were spread out and kicking my team mates butts, although they _were_ able to hold there own until up to a few minutes. _Looks like these foot soldiers are more stronger than the Piranhatrons._ I thought to myself as I unsheathed my sword and began to slash at the Quantrons. I soon came clear of the battle, landing on the ground I spun and was about to fly into battle again when I heard a scream from Cassie. I saw Carlos getting kicked in the face, one of the Quantrons slashed his leg, he went down. That same Quantron raised its blade, but before it could deal the death blow, it was blasted back. I put down my hands and was about to go to him, when I heard another scream from Cassie. Turning I saw that she was on the ground clutching her face and letting out shrieks as the Quantrons that were surrounding her slash at her body and hands drawing blood. I looked closer and saw that blood was seeping _through _her hands._They must have slashed her face._ I thought in horror. I started to charge toward her but a yell from TJ told me that he was also in trouble. I hesitated. Not sure who to help first. _Don't think short stuff, just do. _I shot toward Cassie, slashing at the Quantrons till they themselves fell to the ground, I looked down at her, she was whimpering and crying. _No time._ I thought as I started toward Carlos, but I stopped when I saw that TJ was in trouble as well. He was being beaten and slashed by the Quantrons. I searched for the Red Ranger, wondering why he wasn't helping, I saw that he had his hands full. T_here seems to be more of them than we thought._ Panic started to rise within me but I forced myself to shove it down. What I was going to do to save my team mates was both risky and dangerous. I was low on power and energy and was basically running on fumes, but if I didn't do something they would be killed right of front of me, and I didn't want to see another person that I knew die in front of me. I raised both of my arms above my head and began to concentrate as power began to flow through me, I prayed for enough power and strength to unleash this attack and hoped that it would work and that whoever this Astronema was, I hoped that she wouldn't come down looking for a fight. Because after this I was done. I concentrated extremely hard and to my relief I felt power rising within me, it was a little bit, but it was strong and hopefully it would be enough.  
"POWER BLAST ENCIRCLE!" I screamed. the blast shot out of my hands and began to circle around, striking down the Quantrons, around and around the streak of power flew. Knocking down the Quantrons or shoving them away from my team mates. Soon it was over. I was panting hard as the streak faded and vanished. The Red Ranger was staring at me while I flopped on the ground exhausted. I looked around and saw him coming toward me. I shook my head, thinking that he was coming to see if I was alright.  
"N--never mind me, C–check on the others." I panted. While the Ranger veered away from me to check on Carlos, Cassie and TJ I was busy struggling to my feet. I managed to stand on shaky legs, relief washed over me as I saw the others standing up, supporting each other as they began to make their way back to the ship. My head spun with tiredness and the Astro Mega ship seemed miles away. _I'm going to definitely take a vacation after this. _I thought as I slowly began to limp after them with great difficulty, because my arms felt like lead, I sheathed my sword. The others who had been ahead of me, reached the ship first. I was too far away to see how badly injured the rookies were, but I was starting to get a good idea what with all the blood that stained the ground underneath my feet. The Red Ranger, I saw, was standing in front of the rookies and I was pretty sure that he was angry at them for joining in a battle and were nearly killed. If he was saying anything to them I didn't hear it, but I saw him spin around and jog toward me. As soon as he had reached me, he put one arm around my waist and while I leaned against him, he helped me back to the ship.  
"Thanks for your help." He muttered.  
"They would have been killed if you hadn't released that...that..."  
"Power Blast." I interjected. He nodded.  
"Power Blast. That was incredible by the way, I've never seen anything like that." I let out a weak laugh.  
"Glad you liked it, I could do plenty of those, but first I need a good long rest to recharge."  
"Can all Rangers do that?" He asked. When I didn't answer, he turned his head toward me.  
"Are you okay?"  
"E--every.....thing.....spinning........need....to...rest..." I felt my knees give way, and fell down.  
"We're almost there. You can rest in the ship." I nodded even though I wasn't sure my legs could carry me any further. I just wanted to sleep, anyplace will do. The Ranger helped to my feet and attempted to walk me the rest of the way, my feet dragged in the dust. He stopped for a minute, he put his other arm underneath my legs, picked me up and carried me the rest of the way to the ship.  
"I....in the last fight.......used too much.....power..."  
"Don't talk. I'm taking to get some rest now." We entered the ship, the others steeped back to let us pass and followed us as the Ranger took me to the second level of the ship.  
"Is she okay?" asked Carlos as he limped after us. Without turning his head the Ranger assured him.  
"She's fine, she's just tired." Turning to one of the doors that lined the wall, the door opened to reveal a room. The room was fairly large, with indentations that had beds along both walls. On the far right of the wall there were a table with one chair. On the far wall, facing the rookies was a closet, big enough to hold a large amount of clothing. To the left and right of the closet were two dressers. The rookies all looked around the room while the Red Ranger took me to the bed on the right. I let out a sigh as my tired body touched soft mattress.  
"Thank you." I muttered as I took one last look at the Ranger that was bent over me, before I gave in to the blissful darkness that was sleep.

I'm not sure how long I slept, felt sure that is was more than a few days, given the amount of power and energy that I had used during the battle in the Power Chamber and during the battle with the Quantrons. I opened my eyes and saw a gray ceiling above me. I blinked and looked up at it for a few minutes. Sitting up I looked around, momentarily confused at my surroundings. Then it all came back to me, I buried my face in my hands as my mind played back the destruction of the Power Chamber, and the knowledge that Edenio had fallen. _Will it ever end?_ _I hope to god it will._ I raised my head and took a look around the room. _Hmmm....not bad. Could use a bit of color though._ Slipping the covers off of me, I slid off the bed, and began to make my way to the door, which slid open at my approach. I stopped in surprise, then continued out into the hall. _Need to find the rookies and see if they're all right. And then I'm going to kick their butts._ A flash of annoyance went through me as I remembered TJ and the others flinging themselves into battle. _They had nearly gotten themselves killed, even when I begged them not to._ I stopped and looked around, the hallway was empty, I glanced through the door of the room that I had just left. I glanced at the chair that was before the desk. It looked as if it hadn't been moved. I gritted my teeth. _One of them could have at least stayed with me until I had woken up, to make sure that I was okay._ I let out a sigh, a sense of loneliness settling over me. _My friends would have done that.....and they also would have helped out a Ranger who was in trouble even though they no longer had the power to morph. _I smiled to myself._ And they have._ I looked left and right again, struggling to remember which way was the bridge and also wondering where the hell did my team mates go? I blinked as I looked up, a little camera, with one eye, which was glowing red, was staring down at me from the ceiling. I looked at it for a moment. Then it hit me. _My computer. I could preform a quick scan of this place and find my way to where everyone is_. I felt in my back pocket. It wasn't there! I spun back to the room, the door slid open and I limped inside. I began to look underneath the cover and underneath the bed and on the floor thinking that I must have dropped it. An unpleasant thought entered my mind, _maybe I dropped it during the battle!_ I began to panic, _if I did it could have been smashed by those Quantrons or in one of their hands? Oh man, for all I know whoever their master/mistress is, they could be in league with Goldar! He'll know that dad had left earth a long time ago and has gone after him!_

"Amy?" said a voice behind me, I let out a scream and jumped about a foot in the air, spinning around I came face to face with...

"Cassie!" She looked worse for wear. Her face had bruises and cuts but they had been cleaned, her hands were bandaged as well.

"Sorry about that. But DECA told us that you had woken up."

"Who's DECA?"

"You remember that voice that we heard in the engine room when we crashed?" I nodded.

"That's DECA. She's been keeping an eye on you and to alert us and Andros when you woke up." I stared at her.

"A—andros?"

"He's the Ranger that we met, he was a little freaked when he saw us on his ship, yeah this is ship, anyway, he thought that we were a couple of spies sent by Astronema, that's why he attacked us. But since we helped him fight those Quantrons, those things that we fought? He knew that we're cool." I still looked blankly at her, my head spun with this new information and because of hunger. Cassie was already walking out the door and turned back to face me.

"Come on, everyone is waiting for you on the bridge." She began to tell me about how Andros apologized for attacking us and took care of their wounds and fixed A-6 right up, and how he was an actual human, who lives on a different planet.

"Right here! In space!" Cassie had an excited look on her face as I stumbled after her. I barely heard her, I was still a bit tired but mostly I was hungry. _Why didn't I eat that plate of food that we found in that room?_ I wailed inwardly. After what seemed like days, we arrived at the bridge. TJ and Carlos all leapt to their feet when they saw me, and hurrying toward me began to ask if I was okay?, was I alright? Was I badly hurt?

"No, I'm fine Tomm—uh TJ. I was just tired that's all, I used up most of my power. I just needed some rest."

"Are you sure that you're okay?" asked Carlos. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine Adam...I mean Carlos. Sorry." I said after a pause after realizing the name that I had just called out.

"Hunger must be making me delusional." Seeing an empty chair I sat down, a plate appeared in front of me. I looked up, and saw a young man, close to Tommy's age I guess..

"Here." He said gesturing toward the plate with his eyes.

"Eat, You must be starving." Without another word, I grabbed the plate and began to wolf down the food, then I saw that everyone was looking at me and I quickly switched eating habits BY TAKING SMALL BITES. The boy introduced himself as Andros from the planet KO-35. I cocked my head, making it obvious that I had never heard of the planet. After filling my empty stomach with a bit of food, I nodded to him.

"Nice to meet you, name's Amy Karmer." Andros nodded.

"Your friends told me your name." I looked over at TJ and Carlos, both of them had bandages wrapped around their arms, hands or legs. I noticed a slight bulge underneath Carlos's right pant leg.

"I'm glad that all of you are alright." I said to them swallowing the last of my food.

"Same here." said TJ. I turned back to Andros.

"Thank you for taking care of them." He nodded. I looked at him up and down.

"So you're a Ranger from another planet." I said matter of factly. Andros blinked, the others stiffened in surprise.

"You've heard of Rangers from different planets?" He asked. I nodded and said.

"Yes, in fact some of them are our allies." I looked at the others, they were all staring at me. Despite myself a smile of amusement came onto my face.

"What? Did you really think that we were the only Rangers in the universe?" I let out a chuckle as I set my clean plate aside, energy once again flowing through me.

"Thank you for the food." I said to Andros, he nodded in reply. I cleared my throat.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions, first off has anyone seen a little blue computer that I had on me? I'd hate to think that it dropped out of my pocket during the battle earlier." Andros turned to one of the consoles that was behind him, turning back he handed my computer to me. I opened my computer and made sure that everything was running correctly.. I nodded thanks and put it in my pocket.

"Second question. Who captured our shuttle? You couldn't have done it, since we would have met you the instant we stepped out of the shuttle." Andros blinked rather embarrassedly and explained that DECA was the one that had captured our shuttle, it had picked up our life forms and decided to investigate us, by watching us to make sure that we weren't a threat. I nodded.

"Well Andros, thank you for giving us rest, food, shelter and.....for taking care of our injuries. If you could release our shuttle and point us in the right direction of Edenio, we'll be on our way, we have to help out a friend of ours." I stood up half expecting for the rookies to follow my lead, until I noticed the uneasy expressions on each of their faces.

"What is it?" A part of me already began to wish that I had never spoken._ It's probably worse news, but whatever it is we'll be able to handle it._ Carlos was the one that stepped toward me and placed a hand on my shoulder. After a moment he took a deep breath.

"It's bad." He began. Panic began to rise within me, which turned into irritation.

"Spit it out then." I snapped.

"Zordon's been captured." Carlos blurted out. I stared at him for a full minute, stumbling back I grabbed his arm and held on while I continued to stare at each and every one of them. My mind had gone blank. From far away I heard a voice shout to let go, you're hurting me. Not really aware of what I was doing I tighten my grip. _He didn't call us! He didn't call us! HE DIDN'T CALL US!!! _I released Carlos and sprang at Andros, gripping him by the shoulders I began to scream questions at him.

"How do you know that my father was captured? Why didn't he call me? He promised that he would call me if he ever got into trouble. What about Alpha 5? Is he alright? Is he alive? FOR GOD'S SAKE ANSWER ME!" Andros was staring at me. _God, he doesn't understand. None of them understand. This can't be happening! This just can't be happening! He said that everything would be alright! I knew that this was going to happen. Why didn't I just go with him despite his orders to stay on earth? Why didn't I follow my instinct's? If I had gone with him, he would have been safe, he wouldn't have gotten captured....IT'S LIKE MOM ALL OVER AGAIN._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

All of them were staring at me, bewildered about my outburst but even more surprised about what I had said.

"What do you mean your father?" asked TJ in a surprised voice.

"Isn't he dead?" asked Cassie. I ignored them, instead lifting up Andros a couple of inches off the ground and shouting at him.

"WHO CAPTURED MY FATHER? HOW DID THEY EVEN MANAGE TO CAPTURE HIM? WHY WASN'T I ALERTED OF THIS SOONER?" My blood was boiling, my mind was reeling. _Who captured dad? How did the person know that dad was on Edenio? Whoever took him had to be powerful, why didn't I receive a distress signal from Edenio? _I tighten my grip on the front of Andros's shirt and lifted him even higher.

"WHO CAPTURED MY FATHER? DAMN YOU, ANSWER ME!!" I shook Andros, I was about to throw him against a wall.

"Amy, will you drop Andros and tell us why you think that your father's alive, when you told us that he's dead!" snapped TJ, I swung my head around and glared at him.

"It's Zordon you idiot!" I snarled.

"Zordon's my father!" Everyone's eyes widen, I turned back to Andros, he was staring down at me. Feeling that I wasn't going to get any answers from him, I let him drop to the floor(he landed on his feet) took out my computer, opened it, turned it on and began to type. _Come on, please get through._

"Z–zordon i–is your father?" asked TJ, Carlos, Cassie and Andros were all staring at me. Disbelief and surprise on their faces.

"Yeah." I said shortly without looking at them. The anger that I had been feeling was now slowly draining.

"H–how....? I mean...."

"My mom was human." I snapped getting fairly annoyed with all of them. Andros goggled at me.

"Human....? So you're...."

"Yeah, that's right. I'm half Eltarian." They were all rendered speechless.

"Half.... S–so you're not fully human?" asked Cassie in a small voice. I threw her a disgusted look and shook my head. I turned back to my computer, my hands were hurting since I was clutching the computer so hard, I forced myself to relax my grip, I was getting afraid that I would break it. The screen was still blank in front of me, I had sent a message to Edenio, but it looked as if my message wasn't getting through, or it _couldn't_ get through. Images of my best friend, Tentomon, flitted through my mind, he was trying to summon help by sending a message but the computer was damaged, I pictured Dregon's forces surrounding my friend and ripping..... I shook my head hard. _No, he's alright, I know he is. I KNOW that Tentomon is alright._

"Andros, answer my question right now!! Who captured my father?" Andros, who had been staring at me, gave himself a shake.

"Dark Specter. He's the grand monarch of evil, he's head of the _United Alliance of Evil._" I stiffened and turned toward him slowly and stared at him. _Alliance of Evil....King Mondo was part of that group, and if memory serves, so was Lord Zedd. I knew it, I knew that there had to be a more higher power_. _This Dark Specter was the one that told Zedd to take over for Rita when she failed to destroy the Rangers and take over earth._ A shudder ran through me. _To think that Lord Zedd himself had a boss that he answered to._ _Wonder if he himself was ever punished for his failures. _I glanced at my computer screen, still nothing. I looked at Andros, he had a worried look on his face, plus he was looking at each of us, as if measuring us, for what I had no idea.

"Where is he keeping my father?" Andros told me that Dark Specter had moved dad to another location, so any rescue attempt would be delayed. Cassie spoke up.

"What does Dark Specter want with Zordon?" Andros hesitated after glancing at me, he took a deep breath and said.

"Dark Specter is draining Zordon of his powers."

"WHAT!!!" I screamed, once again I leapt at Andros, he tried to dodge my outstretched hands, the others leapt forward to try to intercept me, but I dodged them and grabbed Andros and shoved him against the wall. I ignored the others shouting.

"HOW DO THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THIS??" Despite having heard that dad was in this state, I couldn't help but feel relief going through me. _At least he's not being tortured....although if his powers are being drained like mine was....._ I began to shake out of fear for him. ._Please dad, hang on please. _I turned back to Andros.

"I–I saw him." he said. My eyes widen.

"There was a meeting, at the meeting Dark Specter revealed that he had captured Zordon, I heard him explain what he was going to do. There were too many villains around for me to try to save him, I would have been killed before I had even unsheathed my weapon." He said hastily when he saw my eyes blaze with anger.

"There was nothing that I could do! I barely escaped with my life!" I stared at him some more then released him and stepped back as he dropped to the floor.

"Could you please stop doing that?" he snapped as the others helped him up. I didn't answer him, instead I turned back to my computer. Panic was going through me, as I remembered how Zedd had drained me of all of my power, _I had died right there on the floor._

"Full of spunk isn't she?" said DECA. I ignored her.

"Okay, Andros. Can you give us a little more detail on who were up against here? Like this Astronema person, who is she?" ask TJ. Andros stared at him. He shook his head.

"Oh no. You guys have no idea what you are up against, you barely came out of the battle against the Quantrons intact. That being said I think that it'll be best if we set a direct coarse to earth, we'll drop you off and......" But his voice trailed away as his eyes had landed on me, I had turned to face Andros. And once again my eyes were blazing yet I had a calm expression on my face.

"Andros, we _are_ going to assist you in rescuing my father, you _will_ give us the equipment that we need I know that you have extra morphers on this ship. If you have one that enables you to morph into the Red Ranger then you must have others to give the rest of us." I said all of this in a calm voice yet underneath it there was steel. Andros glared at me, not liking at all at how he was being treated and spoken to.

"Andros, I think that you should let Amy and the others help." said A-6. Andros looked at me for a few more moments, finally he nodded. I turned back to my computer. He looked at Carlos and said in a low voice.

"She's scary."

"Tell me about it." grunted Carlos. Andros walked out of the room to retrieve the rest of the morphers. I gave a sigh as the doors closed behind him. _It's about freaking time that something was done around here. _Looking down at my computer, there was a picture of Dark Specter, I stared at him for a few minutes. _He looks a bit like Maligore._ Beside the picture was information, his power, his status in the universe, how every villain that he had underneath his thumb was terrified of him. I shared this info with the others. Cassie's eyebrows rose when she saw the picture.

"Wow. So this guy is the boss of Divatox?" I nodded.

"Seems to be." I said dully and turned the computer so that it faced me again and began to type.

"It doesn't say of any known weaknesses." I said with a slight frown.

"You are not seriously of thinking of going up against that guy on your own are you?" gasped Cassie. I thought for a bit. My first response would have been _Yes, he's got my dad!_ But common sense stated that this guy, was even more powerful than Lord Zedd himself. And even if I was at full power, and had the backup of each and every Ranger, which included my friends, the former Rangers, Zack, Jason, Trini, Billy, and Blue Elf, Masked Rider, my sister, and the ghost of Aisha, the chances of rescuing dad while Dark Specter had a huge army at his command, were undoubtedly slim to none. _Okay, so how are we going to be able to rescue dad? Oh, Tommy, guys. I wish you were here with me._

"Why didn't you tell us that you were..." TJ question brought me out of my glum thoughts. I looked up.

"I thought that the subject would never come up." I said truthfully, looking down once again at my computer. I frowned again._ Edenio is still there. Surely once he had captured dad, Dark Specter would have_ _destroyed the planet and yet he didn't._ Typing into my computer to look up the sort of things that Dark Specter has done to the vast universe, I kept one ear open to Cassie, who had angrily spat at me.

"Just like you never thought that the subject of you being a former servant of Lord Zedd's would never come up?"

"Yeah." I said raising my head slightly and blinked up at her.

"Amy just tell us everything now please, if we are going to enter into a new war, there has to be no secrecy between us. Our trust and faith in each other are going to really count." Said TJ seriously. I nodded in agreement. I glanced at the door, Andros still had not reappeared. I sat down, keeping my computer on my lap. The others sat down in the various chairs, I took a deep breath and was about to tell them everything when Cassie stopped me.

"Maybe we should wait until Andros comes back, I'm pretty sure that he would want to hear about your history." I hesitated. Andros.....Andros was a stranger to me, yet the others had already saw him as a friend and a fellow Ranger. _How can they already have full trust of a complete stranger? _I thought for a minute, recalling my first reaction to the Power Rangers, I had shown fear and distrust which slowly grew into trust and friendship. I frowned. _Bad example. _I thought of the Masked Rider, and how he had saved me from Dregon's forces on the day that we met._ I had immediately seen him as an ally and friend. _It was pretty much the same as TJ and the others saw Andros.

"Alright, alright. We'll wait until Andros gets back." I settled myself more comfortably in my chair, although my right foot kept twitching. A part of me want to race off to where dad was being held and starting firing Power Blasts, but, _and I _had_ to admit this_, we needed Andros's help. He could make us into Rangers again plus give us a fighting chance to go up against Dark Specter and this Astronema person. I looked up at the ceiling, a thought had just occurred to me.

"DECA," I called. "Do you have any other information on the capture of my father?" The others looked at me questioningly.

"Such as?" asked DECA.

"Was there anyone else during the kidnaping?" DECA was silent. Finally she spoke.

"On what grounds do you ask this question of me?" I glared at her but kept my voice steady.

"I have some suspicions, and before I tell them to you, I need you to confirm them." A few more moments passed, then.

"I do not have any data if there were others during Zordon's capture." I frowned and turned my head back to the others.

"There might have been someone else during the capture, someone who could have _given _Dark Specter the knowledge that my dad was on Edenio." The others were silent, then Carlos spoke up.

"Do you have an idea who?" I paused for a minute. Wondering if my suspicions were wrong, but my instincts have never let me down. _Still I want to be absolutely sure before I say anything to them. _I turned back to the others.

"I....have an idea. But I'm not really sure about it yet, there are some things that I have to check up on before I can really confirm it." I said. The others looked all ready to ask what my thoughts were when the doors slid open and Andros stepped into the room carrying a black box. We stood up and gathered around him, he opened the box to reveal hand sized morphers. I looked at them curiously then raised my head and looked up at Andros.

"These will be your morphers from now on." he said. Afer a bit of looking at them, one by one we all began to take the morphers out of the box and study them. There were no distinct marks on them to tell whose was whose. For a fleeting moment, I felt disappointed, I have always wanted to know what is like to be the Pink Ranger. To be the graceful one, and who was usually looked at with awe, because of her grace and beauty. Not that I didn't mind being the Yellow Ranger of course it's just that......wearing the Yellow Ranger suit would usually make me think of Aisha and what her life as a Ranger and as a person would have been like if I hadn't taken it, and those thoughts would make me feel even more guilty and I would often wonder if, whenever I was wearing the suit, my friends would pretended that it was Aisha and not me. _In the early days when Kat joined the team, I would sometimes pretend that it was Kimberly underneath the suit and not Kat. _Andros's voice snapped me back to the present.

"Now if you will open the top of the morpher, that's the lid, you'll see a keypad. There is a sequence that will activate and you'll be able to morph into Rangers. Now the sequence is three three five then you press Enter. You'll be able to flip the lid open easily when you press the red button." I looked at the keypad and studied it with interest. It seemed simple enough to remember, although I wondered if, during battle, I was going to forget myself and yell "Its morphin time!" _Probably._ I thought as I began to strap the morpher onto my right wrist but stopped. I stared down at my communicator, it hadn't been damaged during the battle with Divatox's army but the straps were cut, probably by one of the Quantrons, and were hanging by a thread. Being careful so as not to break them I removed my communicator and gently pocketed it. I turned toward the others, knowing that they would probably throw their communicators that Tommy, Adam and Kat had given them, away. Irritation rose within me as I saw the others disregard their communicators and place them on the consoles and turn their backs on them. The communicators that Billy and Tentomon had invented all those years ago had saved the Rangers lives more than once, their level of importance was right next to our weapons. Scooping up the communicators I placed them in my pocket, thinking that I would keep them in a safe place. After everyone had gotten their morphers strapped onto their wrists and were finished admiring them, Andros was watching them with a small smile on his face. Then he turned toward me.

"Ahem, so are you going to tell me who you are?" I nodded I limped over to a chair and leaned against it, it suddenly occurred to me that TJ and the others had not, in fact told Andros, who I used to be, in fact they weren't showing any signs of anger, or mistrust toward me. That was because right now, we were united by the fact that dad was in trouble. I wondered how long this unity would last, and if Andros still wanted me on the team after I had told him my story. _Will Andros look at me as a threat? Will he think that I was merely pretending to be a friend? _I shook my head, _I'll think about that after I tell my story, if Andros asks me to leave then I will. But maybe I can convince him...._

Taking a deep breath I began my story, first re-counting how my human mother and my Eltarian father first met and fell in love, Dregon coming to Eltar to seek revenge, mom and I fleeing to earth, how due to the crash landing I suffered from amnesia. Andros and the others blinked. I continued about how I was approached by Kimberly Hart, the former Pink Ranger, and was given a chance to become a Ranger, how after joining my earth parents were killed by Count Dregon.

"He found you?" asked Andros in horror.

"How?" asked Carlos. I debated on whether or not I should tell them everything.

"First I think I had better start at the very beginning, to give you a more clear idea why I have been having one hell of a time as a Power Ranger." With my stomach preforming flip flops, I told them of the bargain that I made with Zedd in exchange for the safety of my family, how I was placed underneath a spell, made to preform horrible things. How I had been released, dubbed a traitor after joining the Power Rangers, my earth parents death as a punishment, how after a few days after I had turned sixteen Dregon attacked me, I found out that Zordon was my father and that I was not entirely human. And how a couple of months afterward I had been told _exactly_ how Dregon had located my mother and me.

"Zedd. He told Dregon about me and in turn Dregon told Zedd that I was half Eltarian." I took a shaky breath and continued, already feeling tired and fighting back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me as images began to flash through my mind of the day of my mother's death, the shock of finding out that my mentor was actually my father, the pain that I went through on the day that I had died, my joy at being reunited with my mother, the sorrow when we had to part again.

"Dad had searched for so long to find me and mom and now that he had just found me, we had to separate again. B–because he had to help a friend on Edenio." I was struggling to keep my voice steady but it was getting and more harder. _What if we are too late to save dad? _I shut my eyes tightly. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him, if I lost him then....I would be alone again. _I had warned him that something like this would happen, why didn't he listen to me? _Anger rose within me. _Everyone thinks that it was Dark Specter that kidnaped dad, but I know that it was actually someone else who kidnaped him and handed him over to Dark Specter. Damn you dad! Why didn't you take me with you? I could have prevented this! _Wordlessly I pulled out my sword and stared at it for a few moments, Cassie asked me something but I wasn't listening.

"Andros, when you saw my father....what was his state? Do you know?" I dreaded hearing his answer yet some part of me wanted to know. Andros was staring at me. The fact that I used to be an agent of evil had rattled him, it took a few moments for him to answer me.

"He was in a tube....." I closed my eyes, pain filled me as an image of my dad being trapped once again in that prison screaming and beating himself against the walls.... my sword was shaking slightly, I tighten my hold on it, rage filled me. _When I find out who put dad back in that godforsaken prison_, _I'll kill them_. _I swear I will._

**Sorry it took so long**, **I had to figure out how to move the story along.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm myself I released the death grip on my sword and looked up at the others.

"So there you have it." I looked around at all of them. Cassie, TJ and Carlos were looking at me with a mixture of horror and shame. They had never heard the full story until now, they had never given me a chance to explain. Andros was looking at me up and down.

"Y–you......you..." he stuttered. I nodded and said with minor impatience.

"Yes, I used to work for the other side and yes...I regret what I've been forced to do. I'll regret it for the rest of my life." I put away my sword. Cassie took a step toward me.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I gave her an angry look and didn't answer. TJ cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Amy, uh—what we said uh back at the Power Chamber....." .

"It's okay, water under the bridge." I said shortly. I turned to Andros and said business like.

"Andros, we need to start looking for my father right away. Can you lock onto his location?" Andros seemed to shake himself out of whatever stupor he had been in and nodded.

"Yeah, I can." Moving to one of the consoles he began to push at the buttons. I gave a sigh, then taking out my computer once again I began to try to reach Edenoi. I just had to know if Tentomon was alright. _If I can't get through this time, then I'll contact Aquatar. Maybe they possibly heard or saw something._ Although it was unlikely, Aquatar was pretty far away from Edenoi, still I held on to that hope. _Damn it! Still nothing. _I looked at the blank screen in frustration. I began to type in Billy's email address, wishing that we could still teleport, wishing that dad had sent us an SOS. _Wait a minute. Why didn't dad or Tento send an SOS? Was the attack unforseen? Were they unprepared for it?_ _That's a possibility. _A sick feeling grew in the pit of my stomach and I tried to shove away the pictures that flew through my head. If there had been an attack on Angel Grove, the alarm would usually alert Tentomon and Dad, who in turn would call the Rangers. _But what if Edenoi didn't have that kind of system? Then any attack that would come outside of Edenoi _would _be unexpected._ I decided to take a chance and contact Aquatar, briefly wondering if King Lexian and his people even knew the Aquatar Rangers and that they were our allies. There. My message had been sent...._now I just have to freaking wait for Billy, Cestro, or Delphia to answer. _I bounced impatiently on the balls of my feet, then began to pace back and forth again, wondering why everything was taking so _freaking_ long!! _Dad could be moved to the other side of the galaxy before my friends respond or when Andros finally locks onto dad's location_. _If that happens, then we may never find him, space itself.....is so vast and huge....it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack!_ My hands began to shake uncontrollably, my heart was thumping fast. _Dad. Dear god! I might never see him again._ I lowered my head and began to shake it back and forth, my entire body was shaking. _First mom, then Kimberly, now dad...am I doomed to lose everybody that I grow close to the forces of evil? Is all that has happening to me some kind of prolonged punishment?_ I shut my eyes tightly willing myself to calm down, to focus. _If I lose it we'll never be able to find dad. _I took a couple of deep breaths. I remembered the words that Tommy would often speak to me whenever my mind would be filled with fear or hatred toward my enemies.

"They want you to make mistakes so they can use them against you, you must have a calm mind. You must learn to overcome any obstacle that they throw at you." Gradually my racing heart slowed down and my mind cleared while I thought of Tommy and the strength that he had which I had grown to admire. I opened my eyes, and looked around, everyone was still at the computers. They hadn't seen my near breakdown. I breathed a silent sigh of relief and turned back to my computer. My heart leapt. It was Billy! Quickly I typed what had happened so far, ignoring the questions that he fired at me. I pleaded with him with go to Edenoi. He promised me that he would try, he was worried about Tentomon as much as I was. I turned toward the rookies and Andros and told them that I had managed to contact Aquatar. Andros blinked and straighten up.

"Aquatar?" I nodded.

"Yes, a former Ranger lives there, he says that he'll try to find out about Alpha 5, the Alpha unit before Alpha 6." I was about to address A-6 as "the replacement" but stopped myself just in time. I turned to the others, who had looks of confusion on their faces and told them that

"The Rangers have allies on that planet, they'll be able to help us." Even as I said this, doubts and worries crowded my mind. _What if Cestro and the others have problems of their own on their planet? _I thought of Edenoi. _If I ask them to go to Edenoi to see if Tentomon and the edenoites are okay, will they be walking into something that they can't possibly walk out of? And the air, both Billy and Dex have told me that Edenoi's air is unbreathable thanks to the toxic gas fumes_ _that the edenoites were forced to dig up._ _I'll tell Billy that Delphia and the others will have to go as Rangers_. _I just hope that they'll be able to stay there, just long enough to see if everything is alright._ In the back of my mind a small voice asked: _But what if it isn't? Then they'll have an obligation to stay and help out_, _I'm not sure if they'll be able to last long in that toxic atmosphere._ My computer beeped, I looked down at the screen. The others were all crowded around me and saw what had popped up.

**Sorry Ames, just preformed a scan on Edenoi's surface. Fumes are too toxic even with the protection of the Ranger suits. Got no response from anyone on Edenoi. I'm pretty sure that their computer and communications systems were damaged, possibly beyond repair. **A mixture of relief and disappointment washed over me. I typed back.

**Thanks Billy. I'll keep trying to contact Edenoi in a few hours, maybe their communications will be up and running by then. **Billy responded with:

**Right. I'll be doing the same thing. **He paused, then

**Do the others know, have you told them?**

**No, and even if I did what could they do? They're not Rangers anymore**.....**still.....** I was prepared to pour out everything to Billy about how I wished that it was Tommy and my friends with me instead of TJ, Carlos and Cassie. But I would save that for later.

**Good point Ames, but even if they are no longer Rangers they could help out. **

**Thanks Billy**.

**No problem, now will you tell me what the hell has been going on? How in the hell did Goldar find the Power Chamber?** I lifted up my head and turned to Andros.

"Any luck?" Regretfully he shook his head.

"Whoever has him right now, must be hiding his location even from your computers." I mused out loud. Andros looked at me in surprise.

"What do you mean 'whoever'? Dark Specter is the one that has Zordon." I shook my head feeling a bit weird to be correcting Andros, who obviously had more knowledge of our new enemies and their movements.

"Andros, with all due respect. There could be more than one person that could be holding my father under Dark Specter's orders. The Power Rangers have a lot of enemies who would jump at the chance to put my dad back into that prison he just barely escaped from. Can you tell me who else was at this meeting?" Andros had an annoyed look on his face but it turned thoughtful.

"There was Astronema of course, and.....Queen Machina from the Machine Empire." I was surprised that Machina was at the meeting, even more so that Andros knew her by name.

"Who else Andros?"

"Prince Gasket." I raised an eyebrow. _Gasket was there?_ _Huh. Dex was right, word does travel fast._ I glanced down at my computer and was surprised that my fingers were typing out the full story of what was happening, ready to be sent to Billy. I pressed send, knowing that it wouldn't be long until I got a response. I closed my computer and put it in my back pocket. Turning my full attention back to Andros I listened as he continued to round off the names of those who were at the meeting. Master Vile, Elgar, Porto, Rygog and Divatox, I was surprised to hear that Finster, Squatt and Baboo had been also present at the meeting. I had thought for sure that those three would have fled. Prince Sprocket along with Clank and Orbus had been present there as well, so was General Havoc.

"Anyone else?" I asked when Andros had ran down. He shook his head.

"That's everyone that I remember, if someone had come in late, I didn't see them. Why?" I didn't answer at first. _Strange. Why wasn't Count Dregon there? He would have been delighted in seeing his most hated enemy trapped and being slowly drained of his power, it would have been a perfect opportunity to steal some of dad's power for himself to make him stronger, then it would be a lot more easier to take down the Masked Rider. And what better revenge for Count Dregon than to force dad to watch his daughter being killed by his own power? _I thought for a minute._ Could it be possible that he isn't part of the United Alliance of Evil? _I looked at Andros. _And what of Goldar and the Tengu? _

"Andros, did you happen to see a large ape in black armor with an army of giant birds?" He thought for a minute, then shook his head.

"No, I didn't see any of that. What's with all the questions Amy? What aren't you telling us?" He narrowed his eyes at me. I hesistated, not sure if I wanted to tell them and add to the burden of the threat of two new enemies...._but they might show themselves in battle. And what if my hunch is correct? They have to know._ I turned to the others and explained about Goldar and Count Dregon.

"For all I know Count Dregon _is not_ a part of the United Alliance of Evil, but I know that Goldar, who was a part of Lord Zedd's crew, is."

"Count Dregon's the one that kidnaped your mom and killed her right?" asked Carlos. I nodded.

"Yes."

"Why did...uh....Count Dregon kidnap your mom in the first place Amy?" asked Cassie.

"As I understand it, he fell in love with her." It was the first time that I had said the sentence out loud, but I still felt strange about it. _How can a monster like Count Dregon, the man that tried to kill his own father for the crown, who made Dex into an orphan and enslaved his home planet and its people, possibly feel the emotion of love?_ It was definitely a mystery. Cassie had a surprised look on her face. I turned to Andros. _Time to get back to business._

"Did you find anything? Anything at all to where my dad is being held?" Andros shook his head. I looked toward the others, they said the same thing. Anger rose within me. _Perfect. Just perfect. _I glared at Andros for a minute.

"Keep trying!" I barked. All of them jumped. I began to pace back and forth again wanting to do something, anything, I couldn't stand all this waiting around. I placed one hand on my sword and kept unsheathing it and sheathing it. _We should have found him by now, damn it! I wasted too much time in explaining everything to them. What could they be doing to dad right now? _Horrible thoughts began to circle through my head. I struggled to shove them away. Suddenly without warning the ship gave a magnificent lurch, we all cried out as we tumbled to the floor or were slammed into the chairs and toppled off. I raised myself to my knees.

"What the?A-6, what's happening_?" _I asked as I was knocked to the floor again, TJ was holding onto the console in which he was in front of_. _Cassie was holding onto dear life to the wall_, _Carlos was on the ground clutching his leg_, he must have landed on it wrong. _Andros had fallen out of his chair and was struggling to get back in his seat.

"We're under attack!" shouted A-6. Andros managed to regain his seat and look at the screen.

"It's Astronema!" I looked up, thinking that we were going to be shown the face of our enemy. But no, what was on the screen in front of us was a ship, and it was firing it's lasers at us. I immediately threw up a shield it saved all of us from taking another tumble, by this time we had all risen to our feet, I had healed my team mates wounds, I knew that this attack would turn into a battle and I was surprised that I was looking forward to it. _This battle will distract me from everything that's going on right now, I'll need it._ I was ready to lash out at my teammates and Andros.Astronema's ship kept firing at us_, _I kept up the shield and turned to Andros.

"Andros, fire back! Do something!" _Huh, I just said one of Jared's favorite lines._ We received a few more blasts.

"We have to land and face her!" said Andros. _About time._

"Land on the nearest planet DECA." The ship slowly turned and began to head toward a planet not too far away, Astronema's ship was still firing at us, the others were getting were getting tossed around and worried. Me? I was still standing and had one hand on my sword, I was just itching to unsheath it and unleash some every duty damage to this person and her army. We landed on the planet, the firing on the Astro Mega Ship had stopped momentarily, _she must be landing as well._ My heart began to beat faster, the blood roared in my ears. The last time I had been keen to throw myself into a battle was the day that I had avenged Aisha and my earth parents. Even though Dregon was the one that killed them I still felt that all blame will always be on Lord Zedd. _He was the one that led Dregon to mom. _Andros was staring at the screen as Quantrons began to file out of a hatch that had opened and were making their way towards us. I looked at Andros and for a moment wondered why the hell I was looking at him for? Then it hit me, I guess the others realized it as well, Andros was the unofficial leader of this new team of Power Rangers._._All of us looked at Andros awaiting orders. He blinked as he looked around at all of us.

"Everyone_, _get ready for battle." he instructed. We all nodded and all got into a line, Andros blinked again, shook himself then went to stand in front of us.

"Ready?" He turned to head slightly to look at all of us. We all nodded.

"Ready!" We all chorused.

"Let's rocket!" He shouted , throwing out one arm, pressing the button on the side of his Astro Morpher, the lid sprang open and he pressed the sequence and became the Red Ranger. We all copied his movements and become the Power Rangers once again._ Man, I had no idea that I would miss this suit._ As we all raced from the room, and down the hall to the hatch that opened up before us and outside, I couldn't help but think about Tommy and my friends._ They would be surprised at how the rookies and I have been united for this sole cause. _We ran out onto the barren wasteland, the Quantrons were before us. For a few minutes were just looked at each other, sizing each other up. I wondered if the Quantrons were trying to figure out which one of us was the one that blew them all away. I fingered my sword my heart pumping. I glanced at my team mates, I could tell that all of them were remembering their first encounter with this guys. They were scared but to a lesser degree, the chances of them getting hurt like last time were slim since they now had the protection of the suits_._ Before we could anything though, the Quantrons parted to let a young woman stand before us. _This must be Astronema, huh....she has taste in clothing I'll give her that. Much better then Rita and Divatox. _She had a staff which had a sharped end, that looked pretty lethal. She looked at each of us. Then without further ado she opened her mouth and shouted

"Destory them!"I unsheathed my sword, a grin creeping over my face_, that's all I needed to hear._ I raced forward, my sword glowing with power, the others were beside me and for a few minutes it felt like back on earth, with my friends. The Quantrons raced at as and our two armies collided, my sword slashed through the air, slicing into Quantrons, I leapt over the bodies that fell at my feetand continued to strike at the ones nearest me. With each swing and strike I was putting all of my emotions of fear, shock, anger and frustration_. _Soon there was a lull on my side and I took the opportunity to check on my team mates. Cassie was using her weapon, which looked like a cross between a gun with a small satellite dish attached to the barrel, and was busily firing it at the Quantrons that were around her. A few fell at her feet. Looking over at TJ, I saw that it looked as if he was having no trouble at all with his new weapon, an axe. He wielded the ax with precision and was swinging it from left to right. Carlos was wielding his weapon with ease as well, a lance that reminded me of Billy's power lance, only this one was much longer and hit with more force. There were many Quantrons lying at his feet. I turned my attention back to the battle, and put my sword through the stomach of one Quantron, it fell at my feet. We continued to battle the Quantrons, until the only ones that were still standing had taken off. I stared after them. _That's all. Not much of a fight._ Then I shrugged my shoulders. Turning back to my team mates I inspected them. They appeared to be all right. I looked around, remembering Astronema, we hadn't encountered her in battle_, which meant that she probably went back to her ship._ I felt disappointed that the battle had only been with the foot soldiers_,_ I was still pumped up, I wanted to fight a real enemy. One that would not turn tail at the first sign of battle. Andros and the others came up to me.

"You alright?" asked Carlos. I held up my sword and mentally cleaned it, I let out a sigh and sheathed my sword.

"Yeah I'm okay." _On the other hand, I feel loads better. _I turned to Andros.

"So that was Astronemahuh?" Andros nodded.

"Yeah, she's as pretty formidable fighter when she wants to be. Do not underestimate her." We all nodded. I heard something and looked upward, small ships were flying over our heads, blasting at us.

"Velocifighters! Everyone back to the ship!" Shouted Andros. We all began to run, I put up shields as I limped as fast as I could after my team mates. The hatch closed behind us as we raced down the hall toward the bridge.

"DECA take off!" shouted Andros.

"Ignition." DECA said as the ship rumbled to life, it also shook and shuddered as it was fired upon. Reaching the bridge we all saw that A-6 was trying to do something with the controls. The ship gave a mighty shudder that sent everyone staggering.

"I think I almost got it." he said as he continued to fiddle with the controls

"A-6 what...?" I started but A-6 suddenly let out a yell.

"I got it!" DECA spoke up.

"Andros the Astro MegaZord is now on line and ready to form." _Astro Mega Zord? This ship is a Zord as well? _I thought in bewilderment. The others had the same expressions on their faces.

"Great DECA." said Andros, he turned and ran out into the hallway again, we all followed, racing down the hall. We had no idea what was going on, but we had to trust Andros and A-6 for those two seemed to know what they were doing. I was surprised when we ended up heading back to the shuttle, opening the hatch we all piled in and slid into our seats. Andros took the controls.

"Andros...?" Carlos started.

"Alpha will explain everything later." _A-6? What the hell is going on? _My mind filled with questions that unfortunately were going to go unanswered until we came to the outcome of this battle. Before us the hatchopened upand the shuttle shot out into space.

"Andros? What are you doing?" asked Cassie. He didn't answer but instead made a wide U-turn and began to head back to the ship.....which was changing into a Mega Zord!! My mouth dropped open, The ship soon had arms, legs and what looked like a hilt at its side....but no head. I turned to Andros.

"Where's the head?"

"We are the head." he said simply.

"What?" The shuttle zoomed up until we reached the shoulders then turning a bit, the shuttle landed precisely between the shoulders.

"What the?" said Carlos.

"This is so cool!" exclaimed TJ. I was still in shock. _How could a shuttle built by humans be the head of a Mega Zord?_ The Mega Zord began to shake and rumble once again_. _The small ships were swarming around us firing their lasers, I looked at them and thought. _Are they kidding? Dinky little ships like that against a Mega Zord?_ I was jolted out of my thoughts when Andros shouted.

"Astro Mega Saber!" The left hand of the Mega Zord _, _reached over to its right and pulled out a saber and began to slash at the little ships. Our actions reminded me of the scene in King Kong, where Kong is on the top of the Umpire State building and all these planes are flying around him. I smiled in spite of myself, soon all of the little ships were nothing but rubble. _Score one for the Rangers._ I thought.

**Sorry this took so long, I've been suffering from a mild case of writer's block and the flu.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After the battle, we took a bit of a breather. Andros gave us a tour of the Astor Mega Ship. Even through I was bouncing on my toes and practically screaming that we should get a move on looking for dad(Not to mention ready to mutiny and take control of the entire ship just to do so). I was informed that the ship had been damaged by the crash landing and needed repairs, I offered to take a look at them and he asked me if I could use my powers to fix the ship. I shook my head, wishing that I had the power to heal the ship, then we wouldn't waste time and could search for dad. Andros said that getting the supplies for the repairs was going to be a bit tough, what with enemies everywhere and the Mega Ship really couldn't make any long distance trips, until TJ spoke up

"We have plenty of computer and electronic stores on earth, if we take a trip there, we're be able to get all the stuff that we need." Andros looked a bit troubled, my guess was that in his travels he had never set foot on our little planet. Cassie walked over to him and said that she'll show him around Angel Grove and all that it had. He looked at her, then putting his trust in all of us Andros instructed DECA

"Set a course for Earth." I saw the rookies give little bounces and grins of excitement. I couldn't wait to get home myself, to see my friends, Dex, my apartment, to be in surroundings that I knew. Space was so strange and alien and right now it felt hostile, even though we were able to detect when trouble was coming, I kept getting worried about what kind of fire power we were going to face.

There were some rooms that the rookies and I hadn't noticed when we first explored the ship one room, that Andros showed us, completely held my interest.

"This room here is the SimuDeck, it's a training room, with realistic holograms that can take you anywhere you want to go and create any monster or foot soldier that you want to battle." TJ and Cassie wanted to try it out immediately, while Carlos, Andros and I watched them I asked Andros a few questions about the ship itself and I was surprised to hear from DECA that Andros was the first and _only_ Ranger ever to drive this ship.

"How do you explain the five chutes that we saw in that room? Or the five consoles? Or the fact that you gave us _five_ uniforms to wear?" Andros had a bewildered look on his face.

"Why are you the only one asking questions? The others seem to have no problem with all of this." I scowled.

"Because, while the others accept things without any further thoughts, I'm usually filled with questions that need to have answers." Carlos was giving me a dark look. I ignored him and turned back to Andros.

"So can you answer my questions?"

"I don't think I can, you're going to have to ask Zordon. He's the one that gave me this ship." I stared at him. _Dad gave him........_

"How—how long have you known dad?" I finally asked.

"A long time." he smiled slightly, then he said.

"He's never mentioned me?" I shook my head.

"We all knew that he's lived a long time, heck a lot longer than us actually. We would ask him about his life before he came to Earth and met us but as far as I can recall he ne–didn't mention you." Andros looked at me, then shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, from what you've told me about him and about what he's been up to it's not a complete surprise that he's forgotten about me." He turned and watched Cassie fire at one of the holographic foot soldiers and it went down. Then he turned back to me.

"I've been meaning to ask you. Back in the battle, you didn't use the weapon that came with the suit. If its not too much trouble, may I ask why?" After the battle, I had checked out what kind of weapon my suit had and my mouth had dropped open in shock. A slingshot. _A slingshot? A sling shot?_ _How is this supposed to beat an enemy? Am I going to sling rocks from this thing hoping that by some slim chance the alien or monster that I'm battling will swallow it and start choking? Or yeah, this will certainly win me battles. A slingshot. This is the weapon that I'm going to be using in battle. Hell no. _I kept my eyes trained on the two rookies who were battling a monster, Cassie let out a shriek as she was struck., beside me Carlos gasped. I let out a small grunt and turned to look at Andros.

"The sword is more my weapon, I've been fighting evil aliens with it for three years now, and I wouldn't trade it in for any other weapon." I paused.

"Besides dad gave me that sword."

"Oh." Andros nodded.. He and I continued to talk and answer each other's questions, he was curious about my friends back on Earth, our allies and Tentomon.

"Why do you call Alpha 5 Tentomon?"

"It's more like a pet name."

"Oh. What's a pet name?" I gave him a bemused smile while I explained about pet names.

"A pet name is another name that you give someone to show that you care about him or her." Andros nodded, but I was pretty sure that he still didn't understand. I decided to give him an example.

"My mother would often call me Skinny-Minnie, that was the pet name that she gave me." Andros stared at me, it looked as he was trying not to smile, Carlos was too absorbed in watching Cassie and TJ train to notice much.

"Why did she call you that?"

"Well, when I was younger I was skinny, I'm not sure where the Minnie part came from but that's what she called me." Then I added a little sadly.

"She stopped calling me that after I turned fourteen." Andros was silent for a moment then asked.

"Why do you call Alpha A-6?"

"That's more of a nickname." He nodded then turned back to the training session. I looked down at my uniform, it consisted of gray pants and a gray jacket with a strip of the Rangers color that ran down from the shoulder of the jacket to the cuff. There was also a strip running from the side of the pants down the length of the pant leg. Along with the uniforms there came Ranger colored undershirts. I had stared at the uniform for a few moments. When I tried it on, strangely enough it fit me. Including the pants! And each and every pair of pants that I own have to be altered at least three or two inches, but the pants fit me perfectly! I looked over at the others and saw the same result! _It was as if they were made for us. _All of this, the, ship, the uniforms, the extra Astro morphers kind of got me thinking...._What if by some weird chance....dad knew that all of this was going to happen?_ I thought about it, _no way that dad knew that he was going to be kidnaped and have his energy and power being drained out of him._ _He would have fought with tooth and nail then be trapped in that tube again._ _But....we are in a war and anything can happen._ I wanted that to be the end of the whole matter but a voice in the back of my mind asked:_ How do you explain the fact that the shuttle that you stole happens to be the head of the Astro Mega Zord? And all of this equipment that seemed to be here just waiting for us? Is all of this a part of, as A-6 had told us, dad's Master Plan_? _HOW IN THE HELL DID HE KNOW THAT ALL OF THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? _

"Are you alright Amy? You have a very strange expression on your face." Andros's voice pulled me back to the present. At first I hesitated, not really sure if I should let my thoughts be known. But on the other hand, _Andros has known dad longer than any of us._. After I had finished, he looked at me.

"Surely, you know that Zordon prepares for the worst, it's his way of making sure that whoever is fighting on his side has a chance." _Prepares for the worst. _A picture of the Command Center blowing up appeared in my mind, being replaced by the Power Chamber. Excusing myself, I limped out of the room, down the hallway and onto the bridge, I was mildly surprised to see that A-6 wasn't there. _Probably puttering around somewhere._. I thought as I sat at one of the consoles. I lifted out my mini computer and set it down in front of me. After telling Billy the whole story, he made a promise that he would do everything in his power to help, even inviting all of us to Aquatar so that he can help out and repair the Astro Mega Ship. Unfortunately the planet was several light years away, which would be dangerous in the state the ship was in. And since we were still relatively close to Earth, we would get our supplies from there. Billy had been disappointed for he wanted to meet A-6 and Andros but settled for my daily accounts of them. He had always known that one day humans would be able to live on other planets other than Earth.

"I just wish that I had been the first to meet one. Now I regret stepping down." I smiled to myself, to me meeting people from another planet was no big deal. In fact Andros, more or less, reminded me of Dex. Speaking of which, I tried to contact him via his email address that he had given me a long time ago but I haven't gotten any response. Billy informed me that there is only so much distance that information can be sent and received, but if the distance is too long, the message won't make it through. I asked him if the same thing were true for Edenio.

"Maybe we were too far away to begin with, and that's way I wasn't able to reach Tentomon."

"No Amy, the communications system must still be damaged, it'll probably take them some time to repair it." He gave a sigh, I knew that he was angry that he couldn't be of more help to Dex's people. Hoping that things will start looking up for the edenoites despite all that has happened, I told Billy to contact me as soon as Edenoi's communication's system was back on line.

"I want to see how Tentomon is."

"Will do Ames, and Ames? Good luck finding Zordon."

"Thanks Billy."

I'm not sure how much time passed. For all I know we could have been floating around for days, time didn't seem to exist in space. I was in my room trying to gauge where dad could be. I leaned back in my chair and stared frustratingly at the screen of my mini computer. _We need a place to start looking, and to do that we need a way that allows us to pinpoint dad's location, even if whoever has him placed a concealment spell on him. I could try to locate him by locking onto his power wave lengths....but that might lead us right to Dark Specter....and we aren't ready to face him yet. _Anger rose within me again. To everyone else Dark Specter was the Big Baddie, the one who initiated dad's capture, but to me that wasn't true. _He's only a tool_, _someone else is calling the shots here and when I find out who...._ My hand instinctively clutched the hilt of my sword. _They are going to wish that they had never set foot on Edenoi. _Suddenly I cried out and fell of off my chair as A-6's voice suddenly came out of nowhere.

"You guys! You guys! Come to the bridge quick!" he shouted. I picked myself up thankful that I hadn't pulled my sword out of my sheath and fallen on it. I limped as fast as I could out into the hall, and to the bridge. The doors slid open before me and I saw that the others had arrived ahead of me, they were all standing in front of the screen, the rookies were exclaiming over something, I limped forward and froze as I saw what welcomed us.

"We're home!" said A-6. _Earth. _It seemed like years since I had last seen it, had last set foot on it. _Dex! Maybe I can finally contact him!_ I spun and limped rapidly out of the room, down the hall and back into my room. I grabbed my computer and typed in Dex's email address, hoping and praying that he was online. I sent my message and waited impatiently for a response, bouncing on my toes and pacing back and forth the length of my room. _Come on! Come on! _After what seemed like a year, a message appeared on screen.

**Amy! Is that really you? Please dear god let it be you!** My fingers flew over the keyboard as I typed back an affirmative.

**Yes it is me Dex, meet me on the outskirts of Leawood. Please I want to see you!**

**I'll be there! **I closed my computer and tucked it into my back pocket and limped once again toward the bridge. Everyone, I saw, was already seated, no one turned to look at me as I came in and took my seat. Andros was busily at the controls, excitement coursed through me as I watched the Earth come closer and closer, I couldn't wait to land and set foot in Angel Grove again and to see my Dex again. I was trying extremely hard to control myself, my longing to see Dex was nearly unbearable. Finding a place to land away from curious eyes was almost torture. _Come on already!_ It took all of my self restraint not to shove Andros aside and land anywhere. Finally after what seemed like hours, we landed in a batch of woods just outside of Angel Grove. TJ and the others stood up, then silently filed from the room, down the hall, through the hatch that had opened up and stood awhile just gazing out at the greenery that surrounded us. I looked around the woods and for a moment calm filled me. A few butterflies fluttered past, birds chipped a song high into the trees, the wind blew and ruffled everyone's hair. For a moment it seemed that everything that had went on had been just a bad dream, and we were now waking up into the real world, where our worst nightmares were kept at bay and were now fading in light of the bright sunlight that shown on our faces and warmed us. I closed my eyes for a minute and titled my face up to the sun, I felt a heaviness in my chest. _I wish that all of this.......was just a nightmare_. I opened my eyes, I didn't want to face the reality of what was happening. TJ took a breath.

"Okay, let's go into town and look for supplies to fix up the ship." He said. We were about to step into the woods when A-6 called us back.

"Yo! Are you sure you want to go into town dressed up as Rangers?" We looked down at ourselves and we grinned sheepishly at each other, we headed back into the ship and into our rooms. Our shirts that we had worn on the day the Power Chamber was destroyed were pretty shredded, but our jeans were still intact, oh there were a few holes here and there but nothing too big. I made a mental note to pick up a few clothes once I got back to my apartment, even though I had a feeling that for the majority of our mission I would be wearing the uniform. As soon as we had assumed our civilian clothing(Andros needed a bit of help) we all stepped off the ship and onto the leaf covered ground. Andros was looking around rather nervously, Cassie placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, just stick with us." He tried to give her a brave smile, but I could ell that he was scared. Earth was about as alien to him as Eltar was to me. I looked at Andros.

"Just stick close to these guys Andros and you'll be A OK. Listen, I won't be able to go on your expedition." They all turned to me bewildered.

"Why?" asked Carlos.

"Where you off to Amy?" asked Cassie. I thought for a minute.

"I'm going to take a look around Angel Grove, it seems like it's been years since I've walked around my home." That part was true, I had two more reasons not to go with them. The first was because I had to met Dex in the next couple of minutes, the second was because.....well...I really didn't see the need for all of us to go. TJ and the others looked at each other and nodded.

"Thanks, good luck finding those parts." I said before I began to limp away. As soon as I got some distance from the others I morphed into a puddle and sped as fast as I could toward Leawood. It seemed that I had grown wings for I reached the outskirts of Leawood in no time flat. I materialized panting, the land before me was empty. My eyes roved around the landscape for the person that I longed to see. Then I heard my name very faintly. I straighten up with a sharp intake of breath and heart pounding. There it was again!

"Dex?" I called looking around wildly, praying that it was him, praying that it wasn't a trick of my imagination.

"Amy." I heard the voice call again. I whirled around and saw him running full out toward me. It was him! My chest filled with happiness, soon I was limping as fast as I could toward Dex shouting his name over and over again. He was doing the same thing, his arms were spread wide to embrace me. We reached each other and collided, we fell on the ground but we didn't notice. We were too busy holding onto each other and kissing passionately. I tasted salt on my lips and was faintly aware that Dex was crying. After what seemed like hours or maybe days we broke apart. Standing up, we stayed in one place just holding onto each other.

"Oh god,. It really is you. Thank god. Oh thank god you're alive." Dex began to cry tears of happiness and relief.

"I had no idea....I had no idea what I would do if......" he cried even harder and tighten his hold on me. I looked up at him in surprise.

"What are you talking about Dex?" He loosen his hold a bit as he looked down at me.

"I went to the Power Chamber, I just had a terrible feeling. I saw the remains of the.....I searched everywhere....I kept calling your name over and over......I nearly went crazy when I couldn't find you......and I completely lost when I found this." I took a step back and from his pocket he pulled out my engagement ring! I gasped. I hadn't even realized that I didn't have it on me! _It must have fallen off my finger during the battle._ Dex got my hand and put the ring back onto my finger. He then grabbed me and kissed me hard on the mouth, he hugged me tightly again.

"I thought for sure that you were......thank god.....thank god that I was wrong!" He sniffed and struggled to control his tears.

"Dex, I tried to contact you but we were so far away from Earth...I-----I couldn't reach you." I felt guilty. _I should have contacted Dex first and told him what had happened, then he wouldn't have......_

"I'm sorry Dex."

"Hey, you're here. You're here, you're safe and you're alive....t–that's all that matters right now." he sniffed and hugged me tighter. I rested my head and listened to his heart beat, we would have gone on standing there but my communicator beeped. I looked down at it in surprise then remembered that A-6 had reconfigured them so that we had a direct line to the Astro Mega Ship should trouble ever arise, also TJ had kept my old communicator, I'm pretty sure that he gave it to Andros. It beeped again.

"Ignore it." Dex growled glaring down at it.

"You know I can't." I said to him softly as I struggled gently to free myself. He tightened his hold on me.

"Tell me what happened, why were you gone so long?" My communicator beeped again.

"I'll tell you Dex just....I have to go..." My communicator gave another beep. But I didn't want to go and face whatever it was that was calling me away from Dex, I wanted to stay with him, I didn't want to go.....

"Do you?" Dex growled again as he ran his hand through my hair. My communicator beeped again, and I managed to push myself from Dex. He grabbed both of my hands tightly.

"Don't go." he begged. I looked into his eyes, like Dex, they were begging me to stay.....as much as it pained me....I had to. I forced myself to turn away.

"I have to." I whispered, I turned back, I managed to get one of my hands free to reach up and stroked his cheek.

"I'll come back, I promise." My other hand slid through his and I turned and began to jog back toward Angel Grove.

"You had better keep your promise Amy Karmer! I love you!" He called after me. I turned my body around so that I was running backward.

"I will and I love you too Dex Stewart!" I turned, and spread my arms out.

"Let's rocket it!" My Astro morpher appeared on my wrists, punching in the sequence I morphed into the Yellow Ranger then morphed into a puddle and sped away.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"A-6, where are they?" I called into my communicator. A-6 explained that they were outside Angel Grove battling someone named Ecliptor. I morphed into a puddle and sped toward Angel Grove. My mini computer didn't have a lot of data on Ecliptor, despite the fact that this would be the first time that I would be facing him, I would probably get some data on him to add to my computer. _Huh. I'm thinking just like Billy. _An image rose in my mind of the first time I had used the Power Blast, and how Billy had scanned me and didn't sleep for a whole night out of pure excitement. I turned my thoughts back to my team mates and to the battle. Reaching the outskirts of Angel Grove I dove deeper into the woods, half expecting to be ambushed by Quantrons that would leap out of the trees, or come out of the ground. But it seemed that the woods were empty. Reaching the spot where we had hidden the Astro Mega Ship I materialized and was surprised to see that it wasn't there._ What the...? _The Mega Ship wasn't there! I looked around, thinking that the Ship was probably hovering in the air above us, what I saw in the air was not the Mega Ship but the Mega Shuttle. I turned when I heard the sounds of battle. My team mates were all battling this guy that looked like he was made out of some sort of green crystal......and even from this distance and the way that he was blasting back my team mates, he was tough. _That must be Ecliptor._ I pulled out my sword and was about to run to their aid, when I blinked and saw that there were two of them. _Wha....?_ I shook my head. I whipped out my computer and quickly scanned the second Ecliptor_, the second Ecliptor had no substance, it was made of light. An illusion. _I morphed again and launched myself at the real one. Ecliptor took a step back when he saw a gray blob fly through the air straight toward him! He let out a gasp as the gray blob materialized into a Yellow Ranger.

"Ranger Kick!" I shouted as my boots glowed with power and slammed into Ecliptor's chest, he fell back. The illusion of the double turned and released Cassie, who was being strangled. The others were not to far away, I saw that Andros had gotten to his feet. Ecliptor raced at me sword high, I met him head on, ducked his swing, and nearly sliced off his right leg. He managed to dodge at the last second and kicked me hard in the face, I managed to barely duck the kick by throwing my whole body backward and landing on the ground. I had to roll away as Ecliptor brought his sword down on me. I looked up, and found myself face to face with the double. He leaned down toward me. I managed to dodge him and kick him back by preforming a break dancer's move that Zack had taught me. I leaped to my feet and saw that the rookies were still on the ground, a feeling of disbelief went through me. Turning my head and at the same time dodging some red lighting that shot out of Ecliptor's eyes, I saw that the double had the rookies pinned down. Andros was trying to help them by attacking the double with a weapon. I stared at the weapon for a moment, it looked a bit like a drill with a hilt, _pretty weird looking weapon but Andros certainly knows how to use it._ I thought as I saw him fly at the double and shove it back right through a tree. I turned my attention back to Ecliptor slightly surprised that he hadn't attacked me while I had been momentarily distracted. Then I saw the reason, he had his full attention locked onto the Shuttle. He was underneath it and looked about ready to attack it. Red lighting shot out of his eyes, the lighting formed into a hand, which wrapped itself around the Shuttle and was attempting to bring it crashing down. _That's new._ I thought and for a moment just stared at what Ecliptor was doing. The ship was now completely covered by the lighting hand thing and was being brought down, giving myself a mental slap I tried to think of what I could do. Then it came to me: summoning all my power I reached out with my mind until I could mentally touch Ecliptor's hand thing and began to uncurl the fingers one by one, Ecliptor glanced at me as he felt something invisible touch him. He turned his attention back to the Shuttle and struggled to tighten his grip while he tried to think of a way to get rid of me without breaking eye contact with the Shuttle. His grip was now reduced to three fingers.

"Never mind them! Get the Yellow Ranger!" he shouted to his double. _Ya know, its been a seriously long time since anyone has shouted that order._ I thought to myself as I continued to mentally loosen the Hand. I turned slightly and saw that my team mates were once again on the ground. _Oh, jeez._ The double was coming toward me, _if I get distracted by this guy then Ecliptor will get the ship!_ Luckily Andros had leaped to his feet and had struck the double, the double turned and began to battle Andros.

"I TOLD YOU TO FORGET THEM!" screamed Ecliptor. He fully turned, releasing his hold on the Shuttle.

"Power Blast!" I shouted firing, Ecliptor let out a yell as he hit the ground dodging it. He sprang to his feet and prepared to run me through when he let out a scream as the Blast, which had made a wide U-turn, struck him in the back. He fell. I turned toward Andros and was surprised to see that the double was no longer there. _Andros must have finally finished him off. Good thing too. _I turned back to Ecliptor, he had managed to get to his feet and was glaring at me.

"I'm not through with you yet Yellow Ranger." He shouted, he took a step toward me but nearly stumbled.

"Oh, I beg to differ." I said as I watched him struggle to his feet.

"Smug aren't you? Think that with that power of yours you'll easily defeat us?" I stayed silent. _It takes more than power to defeat an enemy._ I didn't say so out loud and watched as Ecliptor warped away, _probably back to Astronema's ship. _I thought. I glanced back at my team mates, who were sagging slightly out of tiredness. I chuckled in spite of myself as I jogged toward them. I reached Cassie first, bending toward her, I gripped on of her arms and put it around my neck and helped her up.

"So that was Ecliptor. Hmm, charming guy." I said to Andros. His head turned toward me and stared at me for a few minutes. _I guess he doesn't know about sarcasm. _Shrugging my shoulders I suggested that we head back toward the Mega Ship to begin the repairs, with the others nodding in agreement and with everyone else leaning against each other we made our way to the Shuttle, which had floated down until it touched the ground. I asked Andros, while we were all getting inside, about the Mega Ship, he explained that when Ecliptor showed up Andros was afraid that Ecliptor was after the Mega Ship. So he had told DECA to take off but to stay near Earth, she had left the Shuttle behind so that we could have a way to get back to the Mega Ship once the battle was over.

"I had no idea that Ecliptor would go after the Shuttle." We started to climb into the Shuttle when we heard the sound of rumbling. We all turned and saw a blue energy beam, that was making a pathway through the trees, and that was racing right towards us!

"EVERYONE INTO THE SHUTTLE!" I screamed. Everyone scrambled in, Andros grabbed me. With the speed of that thing it would be on us in no time!

"Andros get in!" shouted Cassie her eyes widened as the beam was nearly on top of us, Andros took a step back. I raised both of my hands.

"SHIELD!" A shield erupted from my hands and covered the Shuttle as well as Andros and I, he was staring at me his mouth dropping open in amazement. The shield held as the beam was momentarily blocked by it but it wasn't stopping. It was trying to push its way past!! I let out a grunt as I focused all of energy on keeping the shield up, the mental strain of trying to loosen the fingers around Ecliptor's hand thing......_Come on Karmer focus!_ I struggled to push back the beam and at the same time scream at Andros

"Get you Ranger butt into that Shuttle."

"What?" He was clearly still mesmerized by the power that I could wield.

"ANDROS! GET YOUR BUTT INTO THAT SHUTTLE, BEFORE I KICK IT ALL THE WAY TO THE MEGA SHIP!" I turned back, the palm of my hands were smoking slightly. Andros stayed where he was, he wanted to help but he wasn't sure how. I turned my head and HE WAS STILL THERE! _Okay. Actions speak more louder than words._ I thought as I focused on Andros, and gave him a mental shove into the Shuttle. He stumbled back and fell, but got up and started toward the door but it slammed shut in his face. I concentrated on keeping up the shield, _Got to deflect it somehow._ My mind raced, then I remembered the time Justin had been attacked with electricity and how I had used my sword to gather the electricity off of him. _Could the same tactic work?_ _Would my sword be able to hold all that power?_ I began to feel the pain in my hands grow more intensely. _I've got tot try, I've got to protect the rookies._ Telekintically I pulled out my sword. _Please help me._ My sword glowed with power as if saying "I will help." I managed to push the beam back with all of my might, grabbing my sword out of mid-air, I twirled it then faced the beam that was racing at me. I flew into the beam's path and began to wave my sword in a wide circle, concentrating with all of my might, even though my brain was exhausted. For a moment I thought it wasn't working but....it was!! The beam was being absorbed! I kept on swinging in a wide arc until the beam vanished into my sword. It began to vibrate. _Too much energy._ I tossed up my sword as high as I could and at the same time levitated it so that it flew high above Angel Grove.

"Unleash!" I shouted. The energy shot out of my sword and rocketed into the air where it slowly began to vanish. I fell slowly back to the forest floor and landed on my knees, panting and my head pounding. _Good its gone. Whew. _I stayed there for a few moments catching my breath.

"You alright?" said a voice. I turned, TJ and the others had climbed out of the Shuttle and were standing around me. I hadn't noticed that the Shuttle was on the ground. I nodded and looked down at my hands, the pain that I had been feeling was slowly fading and so was my headache.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I said as I got to my feet and limped after the others back into the Shuttle. As soon as we got back on the Mega Ship, I made my way to the mess hall, got something to eat while I took a look at what data I had been able to pick up about Ecliptor.

Ecliptor, it seemed was actually a robot, there is no data on who his creator was. He's Astromena's second in command. His weapons are: his sword, that can fire electric blasts, fire beams from his eyes, he can create lassos/hands out of his eye beams and can make duplicates of himself. _Duplicates._ The duplicates were in fact called "Cyber Shadows" I scrolled down the screen a bit. On the right side of the screen was a picture of Ecliptor, along with his weapon and attacks, to the left was the data. I read the last line: Ecliptor is fiercely loyal to his mistress. I sat back in my chair, and sipped my soda thoughtfully. _Fiercely loyal, second in command, has several attacks at his disposal_ _and is a pretty tough fighter to boot. Sounds a lot like Goldar. _I shivered. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of Goldar since the rookies and I started our new adventure, but I knew that he was out there, doing what I could only guess. _I've got to stay on my toes, no telling what he's planning._ I gave a start as a shadow fell over me, I glanced up.

"Oh, hey Andros."

"Hey." he said as he pulled up a chair and sat down beside me.

"How are your hands?"

"Their fine. They've already been healed."

"That's good."

"You've obtained enough data on Ecliptor?" He asked nodding toward my computer. I looked at him surprised. _He must have read over my shoulder._

"Sorry," He said as if reading my thoughts, a sheepish expression on his face.

"I know it was rude of me, I was just curious. You seemed to be absorbed in what you where reading." I grinned.

"It helps to know everything about the enemy....or at least try to." Andros nodded. He was silent for a moment.

"What you did back there...with your sword...and the shield that you put up.....was incredibly amazing." I smiled modestly and looked down.

"Thanks. But the real credit goes to my dad, my friends and my enemies." He blinked, a look of confusion on his face.

"What?" I laughed and lifted up my head so that I was looking him in the eyes I explained.

"My dad was the one that trained me to use my powers, my friends gave me the confidence to use them to my full strength and my enemies have pushed me so hard that I learned how to use them in new ways. It's all thanks to them that I'm.....like this." Andros stared at me for a few moments, we both jumped and nearly fell out of our chairs when the alarm suddenly rang.

"Andros! Amy! Get over here to the bridge quick!" We heard Carlos's voice over the intercom. Both of us scrambled to our feet and took off down the hall. Arriving at the bridge, we saw that A-6 had turned and began to explain what was happening.

"It's Ecliptor! He's Zord size!"

"Everyone! Form the Astro Mega Zord!" ordered Andros. We all followed him as we ran down the hall, morphing along the way and leapt into the cockpit of the Mega Shuttle. In a few moments time we had formed the Astro Mega Zord and had flown down to Earth.

"Andros, can the Mega Zord handle this battle?" asked Cassie.

"Let's hope." Andros said grimly. Ecliptor was waiting for us on the outskirts of Angel Grove. As soon as we landed in front of him, we began to circle each other, Ecliptor struck first. Unleashing his sword, he dealt us several heavy blows to the chest that knocked us to the ground. Looming over us he raised the sword, suddenly he fell backward. I had pressed a button that had made one of the legs shoot out and kick Ecliptor. We righted ourselves, and pulled out our Saber. Unfortunately we had to go on the defensive. We kept blocking Ecliptor's sword blows, his eye blasts and his blasts that he threw at us..

"Andros! I see an opening! Ram him!" I shouted. Without hesitating Andros shoved the joystick forward and the Mega Zord sped toward Ecliptor. He tumbled to the ground, but managed to get to his feet. Now _he_ was on the defensive and we were the ones that were attacking! We were delivering devastating blows to his body, that was until he decided to create six Cyber- Shadows and have them surround us.

"Which is the real one?" shouted Carlos while he and the others looked around wildy.

"The one in front!" Shouted Andros. He pushed the joystick forward again. We blasted through the Cyber-Shadow that had been trying to block us from our real target, Ecliptor had a look of surprise on his face as he raised his sword to defend himself. But before we could reach him, we were blasted from behind. We all cried out as the Mega Zord fell at Ecliptor's feet, the force of the fall nearly dislodged all of us from our seats. We scrambled back into them and struggled to get the Mega Zord onto its feet again. But we were getting blasted by the Cyber-Shadows and the real Ecliptor!.

"We're losing power!"

"The Mega Zord can't take much more!" I closed my eyes and concentrated, all of the Rangers let out gasps as the Cyber-Shadows and Ecliptor were flung back. Andros turned to me.

"Thanks Amy." I merely nodded toward him. I saw that the Cyber-Shadows had all vanished the instant they slammed onto the ground. Ecliptor was getting to his feet.

"Let's send this guy packing! He's starting to get on my nerves." I shouted.

"Right." The others shouted. The Saber glowed, Ecliptor was racing at us sword held high, fire burning in his eyes. _When will they ever learn?_ I thought as we made the Mega Zord leapt into the air, Ecliptor stopped and stared as the Saber was brought down on him. We sliced him cleanly in two and the result? He exploded! We all cheered. I looked at the rookies proudly as the Mega Zord formed back into the Mega Ship. _Not bad rookies. Not bad._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Keeping my promise to Dex I returned to Earth and met him outside the cave on the outskirts of Leawood. I kept thinking that everything was happening a little to fast for TJ and the others and thought that they needed a bit of a breather. Me? I just wanted to spend some time with my fiancee and get away from the craziness that my life was heading toward. Mango and Combat Chopper were both relieved that when I showed up alive and well, they had been worried about me....and Dex. Chopper had told me that when Dex had found my engagement ring in the rubble that had been the Power Chamber, he not only completely lost it, but he nearly gave up as well.

"What's the point of fighting for the survival and the freedom of a planet when the person that you love, the person who has kept you sane is gone?" Dex had moaned. I put my arms around him and hugged him, not really knowing what to say. Magno reported that when she and Chopper had tried to talk Dex out of his depression he ended up screaming at them.

"After that day....he was on automatic. But even though he was there, it was like he wasn't there." She said. I nodded in understanding. I started to apologizing to all three of them for causing such worry, for nearly causing Dex to give up his fight between Count Dregon. I would have went on but Dex was busily kissing me, and it was a while before he let me breath. He looked into my eyes.

"Even though I'm angry at you for making me think that you were dead and scaring the living daylights out of me......I–I'm glad that you're here." he kissed me again. I smiled.

"You're angry with me and you're hugging and kissing me, heh I'll never understand boys." Dex, Combat Chopper and Magno chuckled at my joke. Dex and I settled on the floor as I began to tell them what had happened after the Power Chamber blew up. When I had finished I leaned against Dex, who put his arm around, I smiled at him grateful. The cave was silent. Chopper let his engine rev a bit then let it die down slowly so that the sound that came for him sounded like an amazed whistle.

"So it's a whole new ball game." he said. I nodded wearily.

"Anything we can do to help?" asked Magno. I sighed.

"I wish there was Magno." I looked down at my engagement ring and rotated it around my finger. I looked up at Dex.

"What about Edenoi?" I finally asked.

"Is everything up there alright? Has King Lexian or any of your friends contacted you?" Dex turned his eyes away from me, instead he stared above my head.

"Yes, they contacted me. Or I contacted them. I wanted Zordon to know that.....about the......" His voice trailed off, lowering his eyes to look into my face I could see the joy and relief written there.

"They told me about the attack, thankfully.....not too many people were hurt......some of them were....when they were trying to protect Zordon."

"What about Tentomon?" I asked in a worried voice, I clutched at his sleeve.

"He's okay. He was thrown against a wall when someone shoved him away from Zordon. He wasn't too damaged." I breathed a sigh, grateful that my friend was alright I released my death grip and felt my body go limp. _Nobody was seriously hurt in the battle, no deaths, Tentomon is still alive._ I was also relieved that none of Dex's people were badly hurt. I lean my head on his shoulder and looked up into his face and was surprised to see anger, frustration and.....guilt?

"Dex?" I sat up and looked at him, he glanced at me and quickly fixed his face so that none of the emotion that is boiling inside of him shows.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." he said quickly. He turned his gaze back towards me and pasted a small smile on his face.

"I'm just glad that everyone on Edenoi is alright." I give him a dubious look but decide not to ask questions, instead just nodding.

"Did anyone see who kidnaped dad? Dimitria didn't mention anything."

"Neither did Donias. He's one of my friends. He was there when the attack happened." He said in answer to my confused look.

"What did he say exactly?"

"All he said was that......there was an explosion outside, he was about to run and find out what it was, Zordon was right behind him. Then the entire cave filled up with black smoke. Whatever that was going out there was now in the cave, Donais couldn't really see but he felt hands trying to grab him and he was trying to get to Zordon because he could hear Zordon fighting with someone, and that someone waas winning. Before he couyld try and help, he was knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant. When he came to, Zordon was gone and Alpha was at the controls trying to contact the Rangers on Earth but the computer was too damaged to allow a full message to go through."

"So Tentomon only relayed the attack on Edenoi. That's what Dimitria told us." I paused for a minute then asked.

"Any word on the computer being fully functional?" I had already pulled out my mini-computer and was typing a message to send to Billy. I knew that he would be more then relieved. To my disappointment Dex shook his head.

"Grandfather has told me that the computer is far too damaged, it'll take a lot of time to repair it." A look of anger made itself known on his face. The people of Edenoi really didn't have any supplies to repair a computer. I tried to think of a way to help out Dex's people, _what if another attack is unleashed and they need help?_ An idea suddenly burst into my mind and I snap my finger.

"Dex! I've got it!" I turn to him a look of excitement on my face.

"We could send the equipment that your people need to fix their computer!" I had jumped up and was busy limping from one side of the cave to the other. Dex followed me with his eyes, so did Chopper and Magno.

"Send Edenoi supplies?" He asked.

"How are you going to do that?" asked Chopper. I stopped and turned to all of them.

"We're going to teleport the supplies to them." All three of them were silent for a moment finally Dex said

"Amy, we do not have a Teleportation System here, in fact the only Teleportation System that we had was destroyed remember?"

"Actually we do." I pointed to my mini computer which I had left on the floor beside Dex, he looked down at it and then looked up at me. Sadness was on his face.

"Amy, I....I know that you are trying to help but....it just isn't possible. Your computer just doesn't have the same kind of power that the Power Chamber has. It's just a carbon copy but with out the Teleportation System. I know you don't want to hear this but..." I interrupted him.

"Dex, you don't understand. Some of the parts that made up the Command Center are in here in this little computer!" Dex gave me a sort of helpless look, he stood up and walked over to me. Placing his hands on my shoulders he stared straight into my face.

"Amy, listen to me. Billy made this computer for you because he knew that you were attached to the Command Center and was heart broken to see it blown up in front of your eyes. He only told you that it has parts from the Command Center because it gave you comfort and security." "But...." I started, but he kept on going.

"I know that it has nearly all of the features that the Command Center had but that's because he made it that way because you knew the Command Center and it's controls more better than you knew the Power Chambers. It's a miniature copy of the Command Center, it's doesn't have the power to teleport objects." I stared at him, without saying anything I spun and limped over to where I had been sitting, scooped up my computer and turned to face him again.

"I know that you're mad at me but....." his words trailed off as I pressed a button on my computer and _teleported myself out of the cave!_ Dex froze on the spot, Magno and Chopper let out gasps.

"What the? Where'd she go?" asked the two vehicles. Dex looked around. I appeared right behind him and he jumped when I spoke.

"Still think that the Teleportation System was destroyed along with the Command Center?" He whirled to face me a bewildered look on his face.

"How.....? What.....?" I couldn't help but laugh a bit at his expression.

"I was trying to tell you this earlier. I found out that my computer has the program to the Teleportation System, it just had to be applied into my computer. I can teleport Dex, how do you think that I was able to get myself down to Earth?" The look of bewilderment was replaced by excitement.

"Amy this is perfect! Now we can send supplies to Edenoi and help them out in getting the computers back online." I smiled pleased.

"We have to start getting the supplies right away, oh wait I have to find out what they need first off." Without further thought, he quickly summoned his crystal and his Grandfather and told him of the news, Lexian was surprised that we still had the use of the Teleportation System, but he was grateful to have our assistance. He told Dex what was needed and Dex hopped onto Chopper and dashed off to get the supplies, before I could even ask Lexian about Tentomon. Lexian's image vanished and I gave a sigh as the roar of Chopper's engine faded into the distance. Magno reassured me.

"If I know Dex, he'll be back in no time with an apology for disregarding you and let you have your talk to the king." She paused.

"I'm glad that Alpha's okay, I became really worried when I heard about the attack." I looked at her. Ever since I had first introduced them, Magno, Chopper and Tentomon had become instant friends. Whenever everything was quiet in Angel Grove, Tento would usually teleport himself to the cave and spend a few happy hours talking with Magno and Chopper. A couple of times they would come by the Command Center on Tento's invite. Blue Elf would often tease Tento by saying that he harbored a secret crush for Magno. Tento's response? Teleporting Blue Elf out of the Command Center. I would often wonder if it was really true but would remind myself that although Tentomon was becoming more and more human and felt real emotions the same couldn't be said for Magno. She was a car for crying out loud! Besides we really had no idea whether or not she had any feelings for Tentomon. In a way I was hoping that she only saw him as a friend and nothing more, I didn't want to see him get hurt. I turned my attention back to Magno who had asked me a question.

"I'm sorry Magno, what was that?" She revved her engine a bit in an annoyed kind of way.

"I was asking you are you sure that _your_ Teleportation System works? Have you tested it?" I nodded.

"Yeah I've tested it a couple of times afer I found the program, I've done tests on short and long distance teleportation. It works Magno." I said firmly when she shifted her tires first left then right in an uneasy manner.

"Okay, so Edenoi is a bit farther away than across the room or down the hallway, but it'll work. We have to believe that." While all of this had been going on I had relayed the information to Billy. It took only a split second for him to answer, he was really excited that my mini computer had the Teleportation System.

"I must have put the program in there without realizing it." He also, asked whether I've tested the program, I told him I did and what Dex and I were planning to do. I asked him about finding a way to track down dad. He was silent for a moment

"Well, let's see. You could hone in on Zordon's power waves, like the ones that Goldar would spread that you would sense whenever he was near." I thought about it.

"But what if by doing that, that leads us directly to Goldar or to Dark Specter himself, he's the one that is draining dad of his power." Just thinking about it made my stomach churn.

"Hmm, you're right." I imagined him letting out a frustrated sigh and running his fingers through his hair.

"He hasn't left you any clues at all?"

"We've only just started looking."

"Then we don't have much to go on. Oh sorry! I'm sorry Amy I didn't mean to type that."

"It's alright, it's the truth."

"We'll figure out something, I'll let you know as soon as I come up with anything." he promised.

"Same here." I typed back. After we both logged off, I leaned against the wall and waited for Dex._ If we don't find a way to track down dad, we'll just be wasting our time wandering aimlessly from one planet to another, hoping for some sign from him that we might never see...if dad ever leaves any signs for us at all._ I highly doubted it, Dad must be being watched like a hawk by Dark Specter. _Plus he must be getting weaker by the day, we've got to find him. _Two and a half hours later Dex and Chopper arrived back to the cave, and after apologizing to me and promising me that as soon as he was done double checking with his grandfather on what was needed to fix the computer I could have my talk with Lexian. Dex had also gone to the store for some food to send to them. After setting everything on the ground, he contacted Lexian showed what he had bought at the store and was all ready to have it delivered to Edenoi. I began to punch in the coordinates to the planet, typed in what was going to be sent and scanned it.. Magno and Chopper moved a bit more closer to see/. Lexian also watched with a curious expression on his face, so did Dex. I glanced at the screen, the objects that Dex had gotten were on it with the words: **Ready To Teleport** on the bottom. I turned to everyone.

"Ready?" They all nodded. My heart was beating fast, _I hope this works. _I said a silent prayer then pressed **Enter**_**. **_The computer parts and the food teleported away in a streak of light. We all let out gasps, Lexian's eyes widen, I turned to my computer and saw that the supplies were in deed traveling toward their destination. Dex was behind me, looking over my shoulder. We both saw that it had reached Edenoi. Lexian had turned and informed us that the supplies had landed right behind him. We all let out cheers and sighs of relief.

"Thank you." said Lexian with a look of relief and gratitude on his face.

"I'm happy to help." I said with a simile on my face. Dex nodded.

"When the computer is up and running again, we will help in the search for Zordon." He promised.

"Thank you King Lexian." He nodded toward Dex and I, wished us both luck then vanished. Dex stood there for a while and stared at the spot where his grandfather's image had been. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Dex....." he turned toward me a sad smile on his face.

"Even though I want to return to Edenoi and be with my people and grandfather more than anything after hearing about the attack.... but I know that I still have a lot to do here on Earth." I felt a pang of sadness in my heart.....I could imagine him being torn in two for wanting to be with the people that he loved and his responsibility to the people that he had swore to protect. _It's tough, you're in constant pain and nothing that you or anybody else can relieve you of it. Choices like these aren't easy. Hell...they're damn near impossible, in anyone else's shoes they would probably chose their planet and their loved ones over their responsibilities, but for us who have been given the responsibility and duty to protect the Earth and it's people.....we would rather have someone else do it. But there is no one else_.

"So you really think that someone besides Dregon was behind the attack on Edenoi and the kidnaping of Zordon?" asked Dex. I nodded.

"For one thing, if Dregon had issued the attack, he would have killed everyone on the planet, he wouldn't have left anyone alive." Dex winced.

"Sorry 'bout that." I said. He shook his head.

"It's true though, Dregon has hated my grandfather and my people ever since they banished him. If he were indeed behind the attack then he would have killed everyone and probably destroyed the entire planet so that I end up being st–uh—have no home to return to." He glanced at me, even though he had grown to love his adopted planet, he longed to go back to his birth planet, where he didn't feel so alone....or different. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when he realized that I hadn't heard his slip up. I nodded limping back and forth the length of the cave.

"True. Also he would have kidnaped dad just to torture him for everything that dad's done to him."

"Not to mention captured you and doing the very same thing." I glared at the motorcycle.

"Thank you for that input Combat Chopper." I turned back to Dex.

"So since Edenoi is still there, we can rule out Count Dregon."

"Then who would kidnap Zordon?" asked Magno.

"The better question here Magno is: How did the kidnapper _know_ that dad was on Edenoi?"

I stood still for a minute. Dex saw the look on my face.

"You have a hunch?"

"Yes I do. But I want to rule out every possibility and every enemy that I have." Dex nodded. After some time we quickly came to the conclusion that none of our enemies could have possibly know that dad had taken off for Edenoi, they had never made an appearance on Earth after we defeated them. All of them had taken off for parts unknown, never to return to Earth nor to step foot in Angel Grove. Except for one.

"You really think that it was Goldar?" I nodded.

"I do. It makes perfect sense in a way Goldar and Zedd had always known that Zordon was my father and whenever I was hurt or tortured , he would question himself on whether he made the right choice on telling Tommy and the others about me."

"So when Zedd was hurting you, he was also hurting Zordon." Said Dex. I nodded. Anger growing within me. _Dad had already been in so much pain, he didn't need any more._

"Goldar knew that to really hurt me was to go after the people that I loved but when I continued to save them and protect them, he chose someone else to target, someone that I thought was all powerful, who could never fall into traps, who could never be captured.."

"Zordon." Said Dex. I nodded.

"B–but how? How could he have known that Zordon was on Edenoi? We never breathed a word to anyone, not a soul! How did he find out?" He looked at me with confusion on his face. I stared back at him, my eyes burned with anger and hatred. My insides were churning with guilt. I took a deep breath, wishing with all of my heart with it wasn't true , that Goldar had gotten the information from an unknown source or he must have over heard it somewhere. But I knew that however I believed, or wished with all my might, that I was wrong, I knew my enemy too well.

"I know how he found out. Someone told him where Zordon was." Dex stared at me, so did Magno and Chopper.

"Who?" I closed my eyes briefly.I wanted to forget what I knew, I wanted to run as fast as I could out of the cave, just keep on running farther and farther away until I could leave the knowledge that I had with me far behind me. But I couldn't. With my eyes still closed I opened my mouth and told Dex, Combat Chopper and Magno.

"Justin."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Dex stared at me with horror filled eyes.

"Justin?" he whispered. I nodded mutely.

"When?" asked Magno.

"Why?" asked Chopper. I faced the wall but spoke directly to them.

"When he was captured and being tortured by Goldar, Justin must have begged and pleaded for Goldar to stop." I closed my eyes, wishing with all of my might that the images that were playing in my mind would stop._ Justin was on the ground screaming,. Goldar and the Tengu all laughing at him......._

"Justin must have thought that the only way to get Goldar to stop was to talk. He must have told Goldar everything, how I felt with working with another team of Rangers, a new mentor, her snot nosed assistant. Goldar must have zeroed in on Dimitria and must have asked questions, while threatening Justin with more pain. Justin must have obliged." I stopped for a minute.

"But why didn't Goldar attack Edenoi immediately after Justin told him where Zordon was? I mean it would have hurt you immensely if Zordon was killed at Goldar's hands while on a planet light years away from you." said Magno.

"Goldar wanted to attack Edenoi, but not immediately, not after he caused some serious damage to the Ranger Team in the aftermath of Justin's kidnaping and torture which would give him ample time to stage the attack without alerting Dimitria or you and the other Rangers." said Dex said, I looked at him in surprise. He shrugged his shoulders.

"You're not the only one that can think like the enemy."

"So let me get this straight." said Chopper.

"Goldar used the rift that he had caused between you and the rookies to plan Zordon's kidnap?" Dex and I glanced at each other and we both nodded.

"Goldar must have sent a couple of the Tengu Warriors to Edenoi to scout out the whereabout of Zordon and planned the attack precisely, after making the plans he must have gotten in touch with Dark Specter, told him where dad was and initiated the attack so that it looked like Dark Specter was behind it all." I said. I turned toward Dex.

"In a way it's an exact repeat of my mother's murder. Remember how I had always thought that Zedd was the one that killed her when it turned out that Dregon was the one that....?" Dex nodded.

"Yeah, but your dad's not dead." pointed out Chopper.

"Not yet anyway." I said grimly.

"But how do you know that it was Justin that was the one that told Goldar about your dad being on Edenoi, he could have overheard it from someone." said Magno. Dex shook his head.

"He couldn't have, my people made sure that Zordon's name was never said aloud outside of the cave."

"Yeah and the others and I have never discussed dad's whereabouts in the open."

"So it's definitely a safe bet that Goldar got the information from Justin." Dex said grimly. I was silent for a moment then said.

"I'm not going to tell TJ and the others."

"They'll blame me again and really see me as a traitor." Everyone looked at me. I hadn't told them that the only reason the Ranger team was working together at all was because we all had a single goal: To find my father and rescue him from Dark Specter. _They need me as much as I need them, and telling them what I know, would just cause a bigger rift._

After saying goodbye to Dex, Magno and Chopper, I returned to the Astro Mega Ship. I was getting a snack in the mess hall, after I had visited Andros and the others to let them know that I had returned, then I had gone to my room to drop off the things that I had picked up from my apartment. Pictures of my friends, my Dad and Tentomon and Dex. some bathroom supplies, extra clothes, a potted plant(the plant was fake, but it added a bit of color to the room), I had also bought an extra cover, fluffing it out and lying it on my bed I took a step back and admired my work. _Looks like home._ I shrugged my shoulders, a bit of sadness came over me. It'll never _feel_ like home but _it helps, I guess. _I had loved my apartment and had been really excited and proud to have a place that I could call my own, I had felt more grown-up and independent. Preforming an about face I let myself fall backwards and hovering for a bit in mid-air I floated over to my bed and touched down. Putting my hands behind my back, I stared up the ceiling, I thought about all that I knew and all that has happened. My first instinct was to tell my friends, so that they can give me comfort, support and to take away the sick feeling that I had in my stomach, not to mention get rid of the horrible images that were playing in my head of Justin on the ground crying and begging...... I closed my eyes briefly as a surge of anger rose up within me as I thought of how useless my friends were to me now. _What can they really do? They're not active Rangers anymore, they quit because they had gotten tired of fighting, tired of going through horrible things. What about me? I'm getting tired of always being on the baddies radar, I'm getting tired of always getting captured and tortured, I'm getting tired of fighting for my life and my sanity. _I rolled onto my side and glared angrily at the wall. _I should have said something, I should have refused to remain a Ranger and gone to search for a replacement._ I lifted up my head slightly and looked at the picture of Kimberly and I. _I should have done a lot of things. _I lay my head back down and gave a deep sigh.

_Well, what's done is done. There's no changing it. _I thought bitterly.

My thoughts drifted back to Justin.

Even though I knew that I should talk to the boy to confirm my suspicions, I thought it would be wise not to. _Justin has been trying extremely hard to get on with his life, and he's also trying hard to forget what was done to him. He may succeed in doing so in the bright sunshine of daylight but at night......._

A few days later(and still no leads on the whereabouts of my dad) I was busily training in the SimuDeck. Cassie and TJ were both watching me as I worked on my hand to hand combat skills and my sword fighting skills. Working off my anger and frustration has always helped me think more clearly on some subjects, Tommy was the one that introduced me to the workout actually. After my Earth parents died he would spend most of his time out on the mat working off the anger that he had toward himself and Zedd.

"If anyone's to blame, it's me. I should have followed my instincts and stayed home." I had taken a step back away from Kim has she moved forward to try to comfort me.

"Short stuff...." Rocky had started, but I had shaken my head at whatever he was going to say and had teleported out of the Command Center. Landing in the middle of the woods and making sure that there was no one around for miles I had completely let loose, screaming at the top of my lungs, uprooting the trees, punching and kicking them until my hands bled, screaming out my anger and grief. I had collapsed onto the ground bleeding and exhausted, struggling to my feet I had opted to walk home instead of teleporting. The next day, Tommy, who had seen the entire thing, offered to show me a more healthier way to work off my anger, by working out.

"By working off your negative feelings, you can have a clear mind, if you're like this when you're in battle, say against Lord Zedd, and you're flying at him in a rage he will easily defeat you. You need to empty yourself of the hatred and anger that you have toward him."

"But I need my anger and hatred to beat him." I had protested. He had sighed.

"Ames, while its true that your feelings of anger and hatred toward Zedd can give you the strength and stamina that you need to beat him, in reality it won't be enough. You need the skills and a calm mind to outwit him in case he pulls a fast one on you, and if he does, he'll have already won part of the battle. Because now he has shifted the anger that you have for him onto yourself, and if he succeeds in doing that, well, then it's game over."

"I don't want that Tommy." I had shaken my head hard.

"I don't want him to beat me, I want to beat him and make him pay!"

"Okay, but first you have to control your emotions so that Zedd doesn't gain the upper hand by using them okay?" I had nodded.

"Okay Tommy."

"Now just listen....." At the end of the day, Tommy and I had walked out of the Youth Center together, I was tired but I felt good about myself I was learning to control my emotions so that Zedd wouldn't use them to his advantage. I turned my head when he had place a hand on my shoulder and smiled down at me.

"Listen Ames, if it's not too much trouble. When the time does come for when you and Zedd face off with each other, try to save me a piece. Zedd and I also have a score to settle." I smiled up at him.

"I'll try Tommy." _And it has helped, although...._ I shrugged my shoulders as I preformed a Power Blast that encircled my body then, with a flick of my wrist, spread and blasted back the holographic Putty Patrol. I stared down at the Putties, I've heard of them, but in bits and snatches from Finster, Squatt and Baboo. I had been fascinated to learn that Finster could make monsters out of clay and made the very first army of Putties that would take on the Power Rangers. I wanted to ask some more questions but Goldar and Rito caught me and dragged me to the dungeons to be punished. I didn't ask anymore questions, but luckily thanks to my crossing over to join the Power Rangers I was able to ask all the questions that I wanted. They answered my questions, and none were fired my way, thank goodness. I let out a yawn and stretched.

"Okay, that's enough training for one night." I said as the SimuDeck was turned off, the Putty Patrol vanished.

"Wow, Amy that was awesome." said TJ.

"Thanks." I said as I limped past them and demorphed. We went out into the hall and turned to the left.

"Hey, how come you, Tommy and the others can do that attack?"asked Cassie. I explained the full story.

"And that one blast scared all of them off?" TJ was amazed. I laughed, smiling at the memory.

"Yeah, I thought that everyone would not be able to move once we got to the Command Center but then Billy jumped up, well...he didn't jump up, he sort of dragged himself to a standing position and began to scan me. Hey Carlos." I said, stepping into the work bay. Carlos was on the ground underneath a Red Galaxy Glider. The Glider was about the same length as a surf board and they were controlled like one as well. Andros had introduced them to use the other day and taught us how to ride them(we were still a bit shaky on them but in due time we would get the hang of it) _Still I would prefer my Zeo Cycle_. I studied the Glider. _Dad must have had the power to see into the future to have created the Galaxy Gliders, the Astro Morphers, even the Mega Ship, and probably some other things that we'll need to win this war. Wonder if there has been anything that he hadn't foreseen. _I crossed my arms in front of my chest and frowned slightly, thinking. Carlos and the others were too busy chattering to notice. _He mustn't have foreseen meeting mom and falling in love and having me. _Mom had always told me that you can never plan falling in love with someone.

"It just happens like that, like lighting. And you feel.....you feel.....oh I can't described it. But it's a wonderful feeling.." I had looked at her in wonder, at the shine in her eyes and the light on her face, I had begged her to described the feeling of falling love. She had laughed as I had kept on pestering her.

"I can't described it, but I'll tell you what, when _you_ fall in love and you experience the feeling. Tell me and we'll try to described it together." Back then I had thought that she had been talking about Jared but _now that I think about it, she must have been talking about Dad. The first time....must have been special for her. For the both of them._ I touched my engagement ring and I began to smile as I recalled falling in love with Dex. A yawn surprised me, turning to the others I bade them good night then limped off to my room.

"Time to wake up Amy." said DECA_, _turning on the lights in my room, I let out a groan and pulled the covers over my head, I burrowed myself deeper into the covers.

"DECA! I ask again: how can you tell that it's morning? It's still dark out!" Even though she was a computer, if she were human you would hear amusement in her voice as she said.

"I have an internal clock that was built into me so I know when morning comes and when night falls, and right now it says that morning has come." I pulled down my covers slightly and cracked one eye open and gave the ceiling a glare. _She's going probably turn on the lights more brighter._ Letting out a small grunt, I threw the covers off of me and sat up.

"I'm up, I'm up." I stretched and yawned, then giving my head a shake, I got up then headed to the bathroom.

After taking a quick bath and dressing in jeans and a T-shirt I made my way to the mess hall for some breakfast.. As I entered I saw that the others were already seated and eating. Limping over to the **Synthetron** I picked out my breakfast and sat down. After taking a couple of bites I noticed that we were one Ranger short.

"Where's Andros?"

"Not sure." said Cassie giving me a swift once over. Carlos seemed to be deep in thought about something, he didn't seem to realize that he had a plate of food in front of him.

"Must still be in bed."said TJ as he ate his eggs. Later when Andros still hadn't show up and when we couldn't find him, we began to wonder why he didn't appear to be on the ship.

"DECA, where's Andros?" asked Carlos. DECA didn't answer. A prickle of unease went through me at her silence.

"DECA?" asked TJ. I took out my computer and began to scan for Andros. TJ and Cassie crowded behind me looking over my shoulder but then Carlos spoke up.

"I know where he is." We all turned to him surprised.

"You do?" asked Cassie.

"Where?" I asked.

"KO-35. His home planet. He thinks that his sister is there." We all stared at him.

"Andros has a sister?" asked TJ, Carlos nodded.

"How do you know of this?" I asked.

"Where is she?" asked Cassie. Carlos explained that he had over heard Andros and DECA scan for life forms on a couple of planets and that DECA had picked up a life form on KO-35, he also told us that someone had kidnaped her.

"That life form could be his sister." He said. _Or a trap set up by an enemy. _I thought. I started to tell them this but Carlos was already taking off for KO-35, which we were orbiting around, to look for Andros.

"I'm just going to see if he's okay, you guys should stay here....give the guy some space." he said. Annoyance went through me.

"But what if you come across trouble? Astronema might be out there." I scanned my computer for any signs. But Carlos grabbed my computer and shut it.

"I'll be fine Amy, danger isn't lurking around every corner. Besides I'm just going to see if he's okay, then I'll came back here. I promise." He handed my computer back to me and left. I scowled and started to limp after him but TJ put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

"Amy, if Carlos said that he's going to be okay, he's going to be okay." I glared at him.

"Have you forgotten the last time a Ranger was alone when there was danger the corner?" I snapped.

"I'm not going to watch another team mate suffer at the hands of our enemies. You guys can stay here if you like but I'm going after Andros and Carlos." I turned and limped out the door, down the hall and toward the room which had the Ranger chutes. Climbing the stairs I immediately jumped into the chute that had my Ranger color and was teleported to KO-35. The others would perform this move before jumping into the chutes which I found rather humourous, it reminded me of how my friends would always seem to pose after winning a battle, I got a good laugh out of it and would make fun of them. Anyway I landed on KO-35 and looked around.

The silence of the planet unsettled me, shaking it off I took out my computer and began to limp forward, hoping my scanners would pick up a trace of Andros and Carlos. _And there they are. And it looks as if they're being attacked by.....Ecliptor? What the hell? That guy was destroyed. _A picture suddenly came on screen of the boys being thrown and blasted, Ecliptor laughed at them as he began to beat them further while the boys were still on the ground. _Ask questions later Amy, action now!_ I morphed into liquid then sped as fast I could toward the battle scene. I arrived there not a moment too soon, Carlos was down and he looked badly hurt, Andros was trying to rouse him. I sighed silently. _Why do they never listen?_ I thought as I threw up a shield as Ecliptor fired several eye beam blasts. Andros and Ecliptor both turned as I flew at him.

"Amy!"

"You!" Ecliptor staggered back as I kicked him in the chest then flipping over him, I grabbed his shoulders and flipped him away from us. He landed on the ground and I turned my head back to the two boys. Carlos seemed to be unconscious.

"Andros, get Carlos out of here! I'll deal with Ecliptor." I turned back to Ecliptor, hoping that Andros wasn't going to argue, he didn't, only nodded. He got to his feet and with Carlos's arm around his neck, managed to drag him to his feet.

"Galaxy Glider Hang Ten!" Andros shouted. The Red Glider appeared in front of them after a few moments, dragging Carlos onto the Glider, Andros scrambled after him. He turned his head and looked back at me, I was busily fighting off Ecliptor, who was trying to get a clear shot of the boys. Andros gave me one last look then took off. A while later I teleported back to the Mega Ship and immediately limped toward the infirmary. There I saw that Cassie and TJ were standing before Andros while he explained what had went on at KO-35.

"It was all a trap. Ecliptor knew that I would go there searching for my sister. I never meant...." He glanced at me, then at Carlos, who was lying on the table, his stomach, an arm and the top of his head covered in bandages. He looked away guilty. After a few minutes Andros approached me, I was standing beside Carlos, looking down at him. I sighed as I raised my hands so that they were over Carlos's body, the others watched as a golden glow spread from my hands.

"Thanks for your help Amy." Andros said. I merely glanced at him and nodded. _Dammit Carlos, you've been a Ranger long enough to at least have enough sense to listen to a team mate. _I turned my attention back to Carlos. The glow faded and he opened his eyes. Cassie and TJ both let out sighs of relief and went toward him, glad that Carlos was alright. He sat up and looked down at his arm and took off the bandages, after he saw that his injuries were completely healed, he thanked me with a nod of his head. I wanted to yell at him and Andros, but decided to save it. Both of them had been through the wringer, with Ecliptor making an unexpected comeback and getting their butts kicked. I turned to Andros and was about to ask him if he wanted to be healed of any injuries, but I saw much to my surprise and irritation, that he was gone!

"Where did Andros go?" asked Carlos, he had slid off the table and had poked his head out the door and was looking in both directions. TJ piped up, suggesting that Andros had gone somewhere to be by himself. Cassie spoke up saying that we should probably look for him.

"He feels guilty because Carlos got in the middle of the fight between him and Ecliptor." Carlos agreed and the four of us went out into the hall to look for him. We hadn't gotten far when I spoke up.

"If he isn't on the ship, he could be back on that planet." the others turned toward me. Carlos shook his head.

"Why would he go back to KO-35?" I sighed, half wishing that they had at least some inkling of what Andros was going through.

"He's probably gone back there to confront Ecliptor again, to make amends for getting you hurt." I paused for a minute, then said.

"But I _did _hurt Ecliptor pretty badly....." I said thoughtfully. TJ looked at me for a few moments then raised his face to the ceiling.

"DECA, where is Andros? Is he on the ship?" DECA didn't answer.

"DECA?" said Carlos. Still no answer.

"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!!" I shouted angrily while I limped as fast as I could to the Ranger Chutes, the others were right behind me.

"He must have gone back and told DECA not to tell anyone." I snapped angrily.

"How do you know?" puffed Cassie, we were at the Chutes. Before jumping in, I turned to her.

"I would have done the same thing." I snapped before diving in. The others followed a few moments later. We sped toward KO-35 on our Galaxy Gliders, I found it fortunate that there were no winds or waves to push us off course. _Still, I prefer teleporting, much more faster._ I thought as we glided toward Andros's location, when we arrived there what greeted us made us gasp. It was Ecliptor Godzilla size! We saw Ecliptor blasting at a tiny Red Ranger, who was busily dodging and running backward and forward. Carlos and the others pulled out their Astro Blasters, I powered up.

"Fire!" shouted my team mates.

"Power Blast!" I shouted. Ecliptor was knocked back a couple of steps, Andros turned. We glided down close to the ground and hopped off. Before anyone could say anything though I was already shouting.

"What the hell man? Are you trying to get yourself killed just because you feel guilty that Carlos got hurt?"

"Amy you don't understand."

"I sure as hell understand, I've been in your shoes. My friends had been hurt on my account time and again, and even though I did confront my enemies, it wasn't on a one on one battle to the death, I knew better than that."

"Listen I....." started Andros.

"Guys! Guys! Can we please have this conversation later? We have a huge Ecliptor bearing down on all of us." shouted Cassie.

"Oh, alright fine." I snapped. I turned back to Ecliptor. I powered up.

"Alpha, fire the Mega lasers!" shouted Andros into his communicator.

"Yellow Ranger Power Blast!" I shouted and at the same time two blue beams shot from the Mega Ship and slammed into Ecliptor. He growled then raised his sword.

"Alpha, hit him again!" I powered up and fired again. _Blast, I don't think there's a way that we can form the Mega Zord without Ecliptor attacking it while its forming._ Ecliptor managed to dodge both attacks and began to attack by trying to step on us or shooting his eye beams, which we barely dodged, I was busily firing round after round of Power Blast. He would either dodge the blast or if he was hit, he appeared to be able to take it. _Uh-oh, this is not good._

"Everyone fire your weapons together at Ecliptor!" I shouted. I pulled out my sword and powered up, while we fired our weapons I was struggling to think. _What do we do? What do we do? The others won't be able to last long under this assault! Think Karmer! Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink._ Completely unexpectly a memory surfaced of my friends trapped within the force field, I had saved them by absorbing the power of the force field and firing the energy at Zedd and the Tengu. _Can I somehow repeat the attack? It could work, it would definitely drive away Ecliptor. _I thought about it while I leaped in front of my team mates and shielded them.

"Everybody fall back!"

"We can't if we do...."started Cassie. I turned my head.

"THEN FIND SOMEWHERE TO HIDE!" I screamed at them. It took me a while to notice that Ecliptor's attacks have stopped, I turned, thinking for a moment that he must have gone and lowered my shield. I cried out as I was slammed with an attack. I flew back several feet and slammed into one of a wall. I lay on the ground stunned for a few moments, _is it me or has Ecliptor somehow gotten stronger? _I staggered to my feet, my healing power already kicking in. I looked up and saw that my teammates were on the ground, and from the way smoke was drifting off of their suits I would say that they had been hit pretty hard. Anger shot through me.

"Now, Yellow Ranger. It's just you and me." Ecliptor looked down at me while I limped over to where my sword had fallen and picked it up. I stood before him.

"I thought that you had a grudge against Andros."

"I do, but since you seem to be far more powerful than him I've decided to concentrate on you solely. How was it that you managed to repel Astromena's attack? How is it that you come from the planet Earth and yet have power that is beyond human? Unless....you are not human?" _Oh great. I've just made another enemy that hates me because I happen to be more powerful than him._ Mentally I shrugged my shoulders._ Oh well, this was bound to happen. _

"Your silence tells me that I am right, you are not in fact human, I will find great pleasure in finding out just what you are." I twirled my sword in my right hand and shifted into a combative stance.

"You certainly talk big, now can you back it up?" I said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Certainly." He yelled as he powered up his sword and fired, but not at me, at my team mates! I let a gasp of horror, then morphed and raced toward them but the attack was too quick! All of them were screaming!

"No!" I shouted, I forced myself to speed up and took the attack as it slammed into me, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to materialize even though every bone in my body was shouting to run. My hands were out in front of me trying desperately to hold the attack from reaching my team mates. Ecliptor let out a yell as he added more power, I let out a grunt as I felt myself slid back a few inches. _Don't give up! _I concentrated trying to summon power, but Ecliptor still put more power and I slid back another inch or so. I struggled to raise my power, but it was all being used to create the shield and hold Ecliptor's attack at bay. In inkling of an idea came to me. _Okay, I'll go with that. I hope to god that it works though. _Concentrating hard I began to turn the shield out toward Ecliptor but instead of the blast ricocheting off the turned-out shield, it was absorbing the attack!

"What!" shouted Ecliptor as soon as he saw what was happening. He put even more power, trying to crack open the shield but the shield kept absorbing! My hands began to glow, with a bit of difficulty I placed the heels of my hands together, and allowed them to be pushed back by the force of the attack and at the same time I slid back a few inches. More and more power came into my hands, I concentrated as hard as I could. The shield slowly began to turn into a green ball of energy. And it was getting bigger by the second. Ecliptor's eyes widen, but he kept up the attack. The ball of energy was now roughly the size of a small car. Finally Ecliptor seemed to run out of power, and stopped. I took my chance and fired! He cried out and stood frozen for a moment as my attack raced toward him, he managed to swerve to one side, and stared as the attack zoomed off into the sky.

"Oh Ecliptor." I sang. He turned his head toward me.

"YELLOW RANGER POWER BLAST!" I shouted, firing and it hit home and then some. He flew through the air screaming in pain, not all of that power that Ecliptor had inadvertently given me vanished into the sky, I had kept plenty of it, for this attack. Ecliptor staggered to his feet ready to attack me again but once again he was thrown back, but he kept getting up again and again, I kept on firing again and again. I kept on firing every time he rose to his feet or knees. Finally after the sixth or seventh time he had gone down, he finally retreated. I stood still for a moment, looking at the place where Ecliptor had been. I gave a sigh and demorphed, wiping sweat off of my face I turned toward the direction wind was blowing and cooled my face. After a few moments I limped back to where my team mates were, thankfully they had managed to raise themselves up but were still badly hurt. After healing them and helping each of them stagger to their feet I took out my computer, scanned all of them, punched in the coordinates of the Astro Mega Ship and teleported us away.

After getting some rest and thanking me for saving them, Andros and Carlos kept looking at me warily, thinking that I was going to start screaming at them for nearly getting all of us killed. But no, I figured that they've been punished enough. But I did manage to find a way to let them know that I was still angry with them: Whenever I passed one or both of them I would hit Andros and Carlos on the back of the head. For a full week, whenever they saw me pass by or come toward them, they would duck their heads. Finally I stopped hitting them at the end of the second week, the boys let out sighs of relief. They started to walk past me when the back of their heads met with my hand.

"Hey! What was that for?" Carlos said angrily.

"Yeah Amy, you said that you won't going to hit us anymore." said Andros. I looked at the both of them, then shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, that was just a reminder for the two of you not to act like complete idiots the next time around." I said airily before walking away.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

_If we don't get a clue on the whereabouts of my father soon, I'm going to go completely crazy!_ I stared with growing frustration at my blank computer screen. _We've been all over this freaking part of the galaxy, questioned Ecliptor, Elgar(_who would show up a couple of times with DivaNut)_, I even tried interrogating Astronema herself, but all of them have refused to answer any of my questions. _I even went so far as to try to contact Aisha or my mother to see if they knew the whereabouts of Dad but it was a no go. _I guess the only way to talk to either of them is if I'm dead or near death. _Because of my growing frustration over the lack of progress that we're making, I've gotten snappish and short tempered with everybody on the ship, I even came close to punching a few of my team mates. So, in order to not create anymore rifts in the team, whenever I felt my temper near boiling point I would teleport to Angel Grove and spend a good two and half hours in the mountains destroying boulders with Power Blasts._ There is something immensely satisfying about seeing something getting blown up into a million tiny little pieces._ I thought as I lowered my hands._ This must be the reason why guys like to see explosions so much in movies and in televison shows. _I was more or less disappointed that Andros hadn't come and joined me in destroying a few boulders since we were in the same boat. _Both of us have lost our planets to evil forces, our families, and both of us are searching for our only living relative and coming up with squat._ I fired another Power Blast at a large boulder and stood still as the remains of it rained down all around me. Andros had told us that his sister, Karone had been kidnaped when she and Andros were children, as soon as Andros had gotten older and had been given the right equipment he began his search. TJ, Carlos, and Cassie had offered to help.

"We'll all help." said TJ turning toward me and giving me a hard stare. I had been leaning against the wall, listening but thinking that I wasn't going to waste time and effort into finding someone that could very well be dead after all these years. After that thought had gone by I remembered what Dad had told me.

"I looked for you and your mother for so long with no leads and no clues to your whereabouts. I began to think that you were dead, but something within me would not let me give up the search, and....I'm glad that I didn't."

"I know that my sister is alive, I can feel it." said Andros. _Just like Dad, he believes that Karone is still alive because he knows she is. _I had stepped away from the wall.

"Alright. I'll help too. Maybe in helping you locate your sister, we'll be closer locating my father." Andros had smiled at me.

"Thanks Amy." I pulled out my sword and uttering a yell neatly sliced another boulder in two. The sides fell away and hit the ground with a thud. I stood still for a bit panting, raising my sword I turned it so that I was staring at my reflection. _Goldar is the one with all the answers, he must know where Dad is. But he hasn't shown himself since the day the Power Chamber was attacked and I can't even locate him to for questioning.. Where is he? Is he with Dad? Is he laughing at him? Gloating and taunting him that he captured Dad so easily considering Dad's a full Eltarian, who was considered the most powerful being on Earth but now has been reduced to an ever weakening shell of his former self? Is he torturing Dad just so he can relive what I went through when I was tortured for hours at a time at the hands of Lord Zedd?_ My anger and frustration grew, I began to lash out at everything that was in my path, levitating smalls rocks, boulders, shrubs, tress ans reducing them to dust. I have never felt to helpless in my entire life, my dad was in danger and there wasn't a god damn thing I could do because I had no idea where he was. _I can't even contact him for god's sake!_ I pointed my sword downward and implanted it in the dirt, kneeling before it I began to beg for guidance from Aisha, my mother, from the people of Eltar that had been, I was sure, my father's friends and allies.....but none came.

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep until I heard my communicator beeping which jarred me awake. Shaking my head to clear it a bit I answered and received a surprise at what Andros told me.

"Better get to the Astro Mega Ship pronto Amy, we have just received a message from the Phantom Ranger." I got to my feet and prepared to teleport. _The Phantom Ranger? We haven't heard from that guy in ages. _I teleported onto the bridge and everyone jumped as soon as I had landed.

"What's the message?" I immediately asked. Andros turned to look at me.

"He found Zordon." I stood stock still for a minute, my heart began to beat and I was sure that it would burst from excitement. _At last!_ I leapt at Andros, he stepped to one side, clearly he had anticipated this. I began to fire questions at him while both of us moved around the room. Carlos quickly answered.

"The Phantom has just spotted Zordon being taken away by Divatox and a small band of Piranhatron on the planet Hurcuron, we're heading toward the planet now." I spun and shouted up at DECA.

"CAN'T THIS THING GO ANY FASTER!!" Andros frowned at me as I limped to the controls and began to look frantically for the hyper space button. _I thought all space ships had a button that would send the ship into hyper space._

"DECA move this thing will you!" I cried impatiently.

"Amy, be quiet. DECA will get us there as fast as she can." I turned on Cassie. Frustration and anger coursing through me. _She doesn't understand, none of them understand the urgency to get Dad out of Dark Specter's clutches. _I bounced on my toes and began to pace back and forth, already worrying that by the time we would arrive to the planet it would be too late, Dad would be gone once again. I stopped and turned to the others as a question popped into my head.

"Wait, the Phantom Ranger is helping us? When did he join in the search?"

"Of course the Phantom is helping us. He's a friend of ours. He must have joined the search about the same time that we have."said TJ. I nodded, a feeling of relief coming over me that we had an ally that was helping us. I began to bounce on my toes, wishing that we could all teleportthe entire ship to that planet._ Or teleport the planet to us._ I continued to pace back and forth, every five seconds or so I would glance at the screen_. _The last that we had heard of the Phantom Ranger had been......_when_.....I struggled to remember the last time, then dismissed it. _Does it really matter? The Phantom is here right now._ I wanted to ask him a few questions: Like, did he happen to see Goldar? How long had, he himself, been tailing Dad and his captors? Why didn't he contact any of us? Was this the first time that he had known Dad's whereabouts? So many questions that, I hope, he can answer. While I was doubling back to pace in the other direction, I happened to glance at Cassie. Unless it had been my imagination, I was pretty sure that Cassie had....developed a thing for the Phantom Ranger.When they were still Turbo Rangers, I would often check up on them so see how they were holding up after certain battles, and whenever I would catch sight of her; Cassie would have this far away look her face, as though she was daydreaming about someone. I recognized the signs. Unintentionally, I had snuck a quick peek at her diary(she had left it open on a table) and had read a bit about the Phantom Ranger and how she thought about him often. _To see him after all of this time..... _I looked at her as I passed her once again then turned around and continued in the other direction. I've just started to notice(when I wasn't obsessing about locating Dad) that Cassie and Andros have been spending a lot of time with each otheras the weeks have gone by_. _I began to wonder if Cassie still had feelings for the Phantom Ranger or whether she had transferred those feelings to Andros. And if that was the case, how would the Phantom feel? That is, if he had any feelings for Cassie? I stopped and scowled. _Why am I thinking this? What do I care if Cassie has or hasn't any feeling for the Phantom Ranger anymore? I've got my own problems to deal with. _

"Andros....and Amy, we are now near the planet of Hurcuron." said DECA. _About freaking time._ I thought pulling out my computer and ready to teleport to the planet. Andros called out to me.

"We should scan the planet, make sure that there are no enemies around." I scowled but I waited on bouncing toes, as DECA scanned the planet for any signs of trouble. Unfortunately(fortunately for me) the Phantom Ranger was being attacked by Divatox's army. Without saying a word, all of us turned away from the screen and rushed out to the Ranger chutes, dived into them and sped, on the Galaxy Gliders, to the Phantom's aid. Slashing at Piranhatrons and Elgar, I saw that the others had crowded around the Phantom, I took a chance and gave the Phantom a once over_, _the dude appeared to be badly injured, in fact there was a deep gash on his left side. Cassie and Carlos were supporting him while TJ, Andros and I were fighting off the Piranhatrons.

"I–don't–have–time–to–play–with–you." I shouted with every punch that landed on the unfortunate Piranhatron that kept heading my way.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Power Rangers." drawled a voice. Divatox swaggered into view. I straighten up and looked at her.

"If it ain't Diva Nut. Had any good failures lately?"

"It's Divatox!" She shouted at me, her face twisted in anger. I glanced at the Phantom Ranger, he appeared to be losing consciousness and fast due to his injuries. I turned to Divatox, my hands were already glowing.

"We can finish this discussion another time okay? Later." I fired at her, she gave a screech and vanished along with her crew. _Dork._ I fully turned to the Phantom Ranger and limped over to him.

"Make room people." I said curtly, spreading out my hands, while the others backed away, the Phantom's injuries were healed. He looked down at his side and touched the place where the gash had been. He looked up at me.

"Thanks." I waved a hand dismissively.

"No prob. Now tell us everything that you know about the whereabouts of Zordon, is he still here on this planet?" I demanded. The others looked at me reproachfully.

"Amy, give the guy a break." said TJ. I rounded on him.

"Do you want to find Zordon or not?" I snarled. _We're so close to finding dad.....and these guys want to take a breather?_ I turned back to the Phantom.

"Well, is he still on this planet or not?" I forced myself to speak more calmly. The Phantom was leaning against a tree apparently catching his breath, I bounced on my toes impatiently. _Any day now._

"No, th–they took off with him. Dark Specter was alerted to my presence and moved Zordon to another location." I stared at him, anger rose with in me, I spun away and cursed loudly.

"Damn it!" _We were so close, we could have caught up with them. Damn it all! Damn it! _I limped angrily for a few steps, spun and limped back to them. The Phantom was being helped to his feet, he looked at me.

"I'm sorry." I didn't say anything, merely glared at him. TJ turned toward him.

"Can you still pick up his trail?" Phantom nodded.

"Yes, I think so." Surprise and excitement went through me.

"You can? You can still pick up.....? Awesome!" I looked around at the others. Andros had moved off a couple of feet and was busy speaking into his communicator.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Phantom, you're riding with us. You can lead us to Zordon...." But I was interrupted by Andros who was jogging towards us.

"Hold on, DECA and Alpha have just informed me that Astronema sent a monster down to Earth." I gave a snarl of exasperation. _There is no way that I am going to miss this opportunity to find my father. _

"Okay, you guys go ahead and deal with that monster, while the Phantom Ranger and I......" Andros shook his head.

"Amy, I want you and the others to go to Earth and fight that monster, I'll stay here with the Phantom and get a general idea of where he's been taken." I shook my head angry that Andros was going to make me miss this chance of finding dad. _There might not be another chance._ My anger was slowly fading away to be replaced by a sadness that, I might miss this chance to see my father, rescuing him, freeing him, reunited with him....

"Andros, please. Let me stay here with the Phantom and let me get the information that we need to find Zordon. You guys can handle the monster." I begged. Andros looked at me for a full minute.

"I'm sorry Amy, but truth be told, we can't handle Astronema's monsters, all of them are energized by Zordon's power. We _need_ you and _your _power to defeat them." I was angry that Andros was stopping me from continuing the search for dad, I was also aware of how much time was passing us by while Andros and I were standing around arguing, while the monster that Astronema sent was destroying the Earth and at the same time Dad was getting farther and farther away from me. I wanted to send the others packing to Earth to stop that monster then I could concentrate on finding dad. But..._the monsters that we have been battling are more than the Rangers could handle....even the Mega Zord had gotten a severe beating during the last battle. If it weren't for me and my powers...._ I looked at Andros then I straighten my shoulders.

"Okay. Andros, join us as soon as you can okay?" I forced my voice not to break and shoving the emotion that was churning within my chest. _I don't have a choice in this. _I forced myself to turned, call my Galaxy Glider and clamber onto it with a heart that felt weighed down, and raced off with my team mates behind me, I began to summon my power, so that I could finish off the monster fast, so we can catch up to Dark Specter, rescue dad and end this whole nightmare. We landed on the ship, dropped off the Gliders and with a press of a button from my computer, teleported to Earth. The monster was a lizard type, with a left arm for a whip. The others charged at him, weapons unsheathed, I waited for an opening, then as soon as my team mates were in the clear I charged forward. My entire body glowed as I ducked low, grabbed the monster's right leg and yanked it out from underneath him. He fell on his back, I leapt up, he rolled out of the way and swung his left arm, I raised my right arm to fend off the attack. He punched me with his right fist, causing me to stagger back a few paces, using his whip-arm he began to lash at me, I spun and dodged his attack and finally nailed him with a low powered Power Blast that sent him flying! _Is this all this guy has? If that's the case then Astronema has nothing on Lord Zedd. _I froze for a second as my team mates, who had recovered from the last attack that the monster unleashed on them, and were now racing at it. I shuddered. _I am actually comparing Astronema to Lord Zedd? Anyone you knew me would say that I was mad!_ My team mates screamed, I looked up and let out a small gasp. The monster had my team mates on the ground and was whipping them! They were on the ground, on their backs or in fetal positions, trying to protect themselves from the attack. The whip crackled and glowed with energy, I morphed and shot forward, the monster brought the whip down on Cassie, but it froze when it turned silver and melted into a puddle. The others watched as the puddle zoomed upward, suddenly a large part of the puddle was separated and flew through the air, it materialized to reveal the monster! I materialized myself and fired, planning on finishing the monster off, but he stuck out his whip-arm and actually managed to deflect my Power Blast! The monster actually stopped in mid air, turned and faced me. A prickle of uneasiness went through me. _Looks like some one taught him the art of levitating one self. _I glanced around, sure that Goldar would show himself. I turned to the monster and unsheathed my sword, which I powered up.

"Okay, I've wasted enough time with you." Yelling I flew toward the monster, but before I reached him, I was blasted aside! Yelling I slammed hard onto the ground, I lay there still, the others were calling to me and were letting out gasps of horror as the monster in front of them grew Zord size! My team mates ran toward me.

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know?"

"Where did that blast come from?"

"Why isn't she moving?" After this question was posed my entire body glowed yellow. Soon it faded and I stirred. I opened my eyes and let out a groan. _Anyone get the number of that truck?_ I struggled to heave myself up and received help from my team mates.

"Are you okay Amy?" I staggered for a bit and straighten up.

"I–I will be. Don't worry." I glanced upward and saw the monster towering over us. I shoved everyone back and raised both hands and as a shield spread over my team mates and I, the monster's whip-arm struck the shield, the shield held which infuriated him. He began to whip the shield over and over again in an attempt to break through it.

"Amy, the Astro Mega Zord is on it's way, just hang on for a few more minutes!" I didn't answer nor did I turn toward Carlos, instead letting out a yell. Lowering my shield for a split second, I powered up and fired! The monster wasn't quick enough to dodge the attack and let out a yell as it staggered back a few paces. I continued to limp toward it, sending a steady stream of power, moving it away from the others.

"Yo!" I called back to my team mates.

"Let me know when the Mega Zord gets here, so we can finish this guy off and continue the search for Zordon, and what the hell is taking Andros so long?" _I seem to be saying the word hell a lot lately. Well, you do change as you grow older._ I kept up the steady stream of power as the monster and I kept on moving five feet away from the others....now six feet.....now ten feet.._Where the hell is that Mega Zord?_ No sooner had I thought that question then the ground shook and I nearly fell over, granted I _did _lose my concentration and stopped my attack and I was completely at the monster's mercy. As I was about to be squashed by his foot, I manage to escape by morphing and speeding away. The monster was punched repeatedly by the Astro Mega Zord. I materialized a few feet away and paused for a minute, taking deep breaths, trying to slow down my racing heart. I glanced up and winced as I saw the monster deal the Mega Zord a devastating blow. _No time for rest._ I thought as I rose unsteadily to my feet. I limped out into the open and leapt toward the Mega Zord. Entering the cockpit, I seated myself and joined in the battle. The monster flung back his whip-arm and slapped us squarely across the face, we all cried out as the Mega Zord shook and rattled. The monster ran toward us, leapt and kicked us in the chest, I clung on to my seat as the Mega Zord took a tumble. Thankfully we were able to get the Mega Zord back onto it's feet.

"Astro Mega Zord Saber!" I called. I rotated my shoulders.

"Okay, time to finish this!" I concentrated, the Saber glowed with power. We managed to dodge the monster's attempt to whip lash us once again. I sent a Power Blast through the Saber, which was unleashed on the monster, which caused him to stagger back. _Now's our chance. I'm getting sick of this guy!_ The Mega Zord leapt into the air and brought the glowing Saber down onto the monster, finally destroying him.

"Yeah!"

"Woohoo!"

"We did it!"

But we all let out gasps of disbelief as the smoke cleared, the monster had somehow been able to survive the attack and duplicate himself!

"Oh, boy." Both monsters gave out cackles and proceeded to kick our butts. They used their whip-arms to take our feet from underneath the Mega Zord, then the both of them would take it in turns to whip the front of the Mega Zord. I managed to save us by concentrating on the whips, freezing them in mid-air and making the monsters whip lash their own faces. They staggered back, clearly in pain. We managed to get to our feet, and held off their renewed attacks but only for so long, before they would once again gain the upper hand. One would wrap their whip-arm around our neck while the other would punch, kick, or whip us, which caused considerable damage to the Mega Zord. _That's it! _I thought angrily as I struggled back into my seat. Concentrating I made the right hand of the Mega Zord shoot out and grab onto the monster's whip-arm, both monsters stiffened in surprise, then the monster whose whip-arm I was holding, let out a scream as I sent a stream of power racing through the Mega Zord arm which ended in the monster. It flew backward and fell a few feet away, we began to try to struggle to break free of the other monster's grip while the first one had gotten to his feet and was racing at us yelling.

"GET READY FOR IMPACT!" We all braced ourselves, but before the first monster could reach us, he was blasted back! My team mates and monsters all looked up. It was a Mega Zord! It landed beside us and blasted the first monster again as it struggled to it's feet, it screamed as it exploded! And was finished. We all stared in awe at the other Mega Zord. The other monster's grip seem to slacken around our Mega Zord throat as he also stared with his mouth open.

"Hey!." We all heard a voice call over the Mega Zord's communication system.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Andros?" We all exclaimed.

"Yeah, how do you like the Delta Mega Zord?"

"Delta...?" I breathed.

"Yeah. I'll explain everything later, first we have to finish off that monster." The monster was still staring at the Delta Mega Zord, it seemed to be frozen either in awe or fear. We managed to completely loosen ourselves from it's grip and joined in the Delta Mega Zord and we bore down on the monster. Combing our powers, it was destroyed. I breathed a sigh and smiled that the battle was over. A minute later I froze. _Dad! How could I have forgotten? _

"Andros! What did the Phantom Ranger tell you? Did he tell you where Dark Specter is hiding Dad?"

"Huh? He just said that he would continue the search and....." But I didn't hear him. I had already teleported to the planet and landed. I ran forward screaming for my dad. Looking around in a vain hope that I would catch a glimpse of him or the Phantom Ranger, _I was going to make the Phantom take me with him!_ But there was no sing of him or Dad, both of them were gone. I let out a yell of anger and, took out my sword and began to slash and blast at everything. _We were so close to ending it! So close! That monster was a distraction, a freaking distraction!!! _I fired a couple of Power Blasts at the ground and stood stock still as the dirt rained down around me. I was breathing hard, and didn't turn around when the others landing behind me. None of them said anything, Andros took a step toward me, his hand was outstretched.

"Amy I...." He started but I had already moved away from him. Without turning around I said quietly.

"He's not here, Dark Specter must have already moved him. The Phantom's gone too."

"Amy....I–I'm sorry. I...." I interrupted him, my voice was shaking in anger.

"The monster, the battle...it was all a distraction so that dad could be moved without any of us interfering." They saw that my sword and my hand were shaking badly. I took a deep shuddering breath, then turning to face them, I sheathed my sword, and limped past them.

"Come on." I said wearily.

"We have to see if we can catch up with them." I teleported away, after a while the others followed suit.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I didn't speak to Andros for the next couple of days, feeling angry at him that he had made me miss the one and only opportunity to finally finding and rescuing dad; I also blamed DECA for wasting our time and making us wait while she scanned Hurcuron for any signs of danger. _Hello! Of course there were enemies on the planet! Aren't they everywhere? _

Whenever I _did_ have to speak to Andros or DECA(which was rarely) I would do so in a cold voice. Andros had tried numerous times to apologize for not allowing me to stay with the Phantom Ranger and gain the information that I needed to find dad. Some of my resentment and anger went toward him also, the Phantom had only been able to find dad and yet he lost him all over again Andros thought that when my dad was moved, Dark Specter must have put a powerful cloaking device around dad so that no one would be able to locate him. _So once again we are back to freaking square one._ I thought angrily as I stomped away from the mess hall, Andros was calling after me but I ignored him, stopping until I got to my room. I stood in the middle glaring at everything that was around me. My eyes settled on the picture of my friends and a fresh wave of loathing filled me, limping over to it I grabbed the picture and stared down at it. I resented the fact that they were all oblivious to my pain, the helplessness, the loneliness and the frustration. I began to think about teleporting to Earth, gathering Tommy and the others and telling them what was going on. I felt a savage thrill as I pictured their shocked looks, their anger at not being told which would change to helplessness. They knew that they wouldn't be able to do a damn thing because they were no longer Rangers. I looked down at the picture and was mildly surprised to see that there was a crack on it, I relaxed my grip and in doing so began to feel guilty. _My friends....they've been through a lot: the death of Aisha and me replacing her, the girl that took her life, Kimberly moving to Florida and being replaced by Kat, Dad leaving and being replaced by Dimitria_, _Rocky being replace by Justin,_ _Goldar returning, Justin captured and tortured_. _Can I really bring my friends more pain and bad news? Can I really again shatter their peaceful lives? Can I really do that after everything they've done for me? Just so they can feel a little bit of my own pain? _I stared into the distance then shaking my head I put down the picture, turned and limped back out the door. _No, I can't do that. My friends, they deserve a break after all that they've gone through, besides I hate seeing other people suffer, especially if they've suffered because of me._

Throughout the entire week while we were battling monsters, Ecliptor, Quantrons and Astronema(she's a tough one, I'll say that) I came to the conclusion that Goldar had been on Earth during the last battle and it was he that had fired that beam at me. _But why didn't I sense him?_ In the past I've been able to sense Goldar's or Zedd presence whenever they were near but now....._not even my computer picked him up. Could it be that he somehow disguised his presence? _I thought it could be possible, considering the control that he had over it also, considering the fact that he's had it for a long time, he must have explored what it can do, how best to use it. _Truth be told, having this power is like having an extra limb, it becomes more stronger each and every time you use it. And Goldar _has _been using it._ _The things that he could do, the damage that he's done....._ I shuddered, dreading and fearing the day that my team mates would met up with him. _Pray to God that I'll have the strength to protect them._

"Hold still Andros! I'm trying to heal you!" I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back onto his chair, he glared up at me but held still as I healed his injuries.

"Okay, tell me again. Why are the rest us of us badly hurt and _you_ have only gotten a few scratches and bruises?" I rolled my eyes. _How many times am I going to have to tell them?_

"For your information Carlos, I have been in more battles than you, I have gotten blasted more times than you and have gotten my butt kicked more times that you. In short my body as gotten more tougher over the years thanks to fighting Goldar Rito Revolto, Lord Zedd, Master Vile(though my friends and I never actually fought him, per say) Price Gasket and a whole bunch of other evil idiots who thought that taking over the Earth was going to a snap since it was guarded by a couple of over emotional teenagers." I paused.

"Also my reflexes are more faster." I said with a shrug of my shoulders as I allowed Andros to stand up and walk over to the bridge's computer. I moved toward TJ and spread my hands over him. He looked up at me while a golden light spread over him.

"Not to mention that you're half alien." snapped Cassie. I ignored her.

"That was quick thinking that you did back there, it saved our lives." said TJ.

"Don't mention it." I said with another shrug of my shoulders. I looked up at Andros, who had a rather worried look on his face. I decided to get to it.

"So," I said with a bit of grunt as I heaved myself up from my squatting position beside Carlos.

"Who was that dude that I saw hiding in the bushes?"

Andros shook his head as he began to pace back and forth, muttering to himself. The others and I followed him with our eyes as he paced the length of the room. Every so often he would glance at Carlos. We had followed a distress signal that had been supposedly sent by dad, even though I was obsessed with finding my father and following any and all leads that we were picking up, something didn't sit right with me when we had picked up the signal. _Dad sending a distress signal, when he's being watched twenty-four/seven by the people who grabbed him? Something's not right here._ When we had gotten to the planet, I followed my instincts, pulled out my computer and began to scan the area, and began to pick up several life forms that were waiting for us in the bushes to our far right. I called to my team mates about the ambush when Quantrons came out and began to attack us. Grabbing one by the arm just as it was about to throw a punch, I flipped it over my head, grabbed it's ankle and began to spin it around in a wide circle. After knocking out some of the Quantrons that had _tried to_ get close_,_ I flung the Quantron that I had toward Ecliptor who had appeared at that very moment. Ecliptor ducked, pulled out his sword and began to look toward Andros then me and back again. It was as if he couldn't decide which one to attack first. _The yellow one_, _she's the one that bested Astronema. She the one with that incredible power.....a power that.....can be shared._ He charged at me. I turned toward him. _This guy is just asking for it. _I ducked his swinging sword, my fist shot out and I nailed him with a beautiful uppercut that knocked his head back. Preforming a round house kick, I sent him staggered to the right. A Quantron leaped over him and began to slash at me with his blade, pulling out my sword I went on the defensive until I saw an opening. Raising my sword high above my head I brought it down and cleanly sliced the blade in two. The Quantron looked at the pieces that he was holding in each hand then he looked up at me, in time to see my fist met it's face. I turned and breathed a sigh.

"Ah, they don't make weapons like they used to." I chuckled.

**Little battle humor there.**

Behind me a Qauntron raced toward my back, it's blade ready to run me thorough, at the last second though, without even turning around, I shoved my sword into its abdomen. I pulled my sword out of it and the Quantron fell to it's knees then fell at my feet. I turned and looked down at it for a minute. Shrugging my shoulders and with sword raised I leapt back into the battle. I began to seriously think that all of these battles were a waste of time. _We could be out looking for dad right now and not fighting these_..._these lowlife losers_. I threw a Quantron off of me, spun and punched away another one. My anger grew as I began to think of all the time wasted in all of these pointless battles, when our energy could be put to better use on finding my father and beating the living daylights out of whoever put him back in his prison, I began debating on whether or not the search would be done more faster if I broke away from the team. _Maybe.....it would be best._ Then I grudgingly remembered my promise to my friends. Letting out a disappointed sigh, I turned as I heard Carlos give out a yell of pain, I saw that he was on the ground clutching his wrist. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone else hiding in the bushes, I only caught a glimpse of him before TJ shouted that we had to retreat Carlos was hurt. But the Quantrons nor Ecliptor allowed us to leave. I powered up and let my sword fly in a full circle, striking Quantrons and Ecliptor. A few of them managed to dodge them but I had already sent a Rotating Power Blast. While the baddies were down, my team mates and I teleported away. After I had healed the others, Carlos's wrist was still hurting him. I frowned. _My healing power should have worked on that bite that he got. _Andros looked at Carlos.

"You had better come with me to the infirmary." He said. Carlos looked at him then without a word he stood up and followed Andros. TJ and Cassie also followed. TJ stopped and looked at me.

"Aren't you coming?" I debated. In my opinion, not everyone _has_ to be there when a friend/team mate gets sick or hurt. But not wanting to sound or seem that I didn't care about Carlos's state, I decided to tag along, I wanted to ask Andros more about the guy that I saw. We got to the infirmary Andros and Cassie were already scanning Carlos who was lying on the medical table shirtless. I looked at him more closely, Carlos seemed to be shivering. I raised my hand, hesitated, then laid it on his forehead.

"All of his vital signs appear normal." Cassie said as she scanned Carlos once more. I looked up at her in surprise. Carlos appeared to have goose bumps up and down his arms, the bite that I had healed only several moments ago had returned, it looked redder and uglier than before. Red and blue veins that were pretty visible were all over his body and he was shivering, even though the infirmary was room temperature.

"I'll be right back." I said to them, I limped to my room and whisked the blanket from off of my bed, returning to the infirmary I covered Carlos up with it. He looked at me and nodded his thanks even though it looked as if it wasn't helping much, he was still shivering. I looked down at him then up at Andros. I began to worry, I didn't like the way that Carlos's body was reacting to that bite.

"What's wrong with him?" Andros didn't answer me right away, instead he asked Carlos, when he had gotten bitten, did the bite feel cold. Cassie, TJ and I looked each other then at Andros in confusion. _A cold bite?_ We got another surprise when Carlos nodded.

"Yeah, it was cold." Andros's worried look became more profound. Gesturing to TJ to follow him out of the room, both boys began to talk in hushed tones, Andros doing most of the talking. I didn't like to eavesdrop so I got out my computer and began to type in the description of the red guy that I saw. While it searched its data banks, I looked across at Cassie, she had a worried look on her face as she looked down at Carlos, but she kept stealing covert glances at the boys, no doubt trying to find out what they were talking about. I looked down at my computer, feeling oddly restless and apprehensive, as thoughts of Lord Zedd began to creep into my mind. _What if it was Zedd that I saw? _Shivers ran down my back as I thought of my former master, fear and terror rose within me. _What if, somehow, Goldar managed to bring him back to life? What if he goes after my team mates or worse he goes after my friends? _I began to imagine all sorts of scenarios involving a resurrected Zedd attacking my team mates, killing them, capturing Justin and torturing him until insanity finally claimed him. I clutched my computer hard, my hands began to shake. I struggled to calm myself. _No. He couldn't have been there. Besides not even my power can bring back the dead. _I loosen the grip on my computer as this calming thought went through my mind. _That's right. Nothing can bring a person back to life, nothing!_ I jerked around when Andros called over to me.

"TJ and I are going back to that planet where Carlos was bitten, you two stay here and keep an eye on Carlos." Cassie nodded.

"Be careful, Andros." He looked at her for a bit then he nodded.

"I will."

"Same to you too TJ, Good luck." I called after them as the boys took off. Cassie and I turned back to Carlos, he seemed to be shivering even more. Cassie went to go get him another blanket. _Something's going to happen, I'm sure of it. _I put away my computer as I felt my body instinctively tense, I took a step back from Carlos and looked him over, I calmed down when I realized that I would be able to over take him, should the need arise. Then I began to feel uneasy that I felt confident that I could beat Carlos easily. _Am I feeling this way because Carlos is a mere human who doesn't have the power of the Power Ranger Power Blast and is therefore defenseless against my power and my strength? Or is it because I have no feelings of friendship toward him and only view him as a person and comrade?_ I thought for a minute and began to think about my team mates each in turn. I did care about them, I cared about their safety and their well being and I would be willing to help them if they ever found themselves into trouble......but _is that all? _I searched some more and felt a slightly guilty twinge that I felt nothing more after that. My feelings for them only went so far as companionship, not friendship or anything more deeper than that. It was true that the companionship hadn't changed into friendship, even before the events of meeting up with Andros, I didn't feel anything toward Carlos, Cassie and TJ .I saw them as nothing more than rookies, rookies that needed to be taught, trained and protected from Goldar and the Tengu. _In fact...._if I was truthful with myself_........I still see them as rookies, they still don't have the experience that my friends and I have. _I thought about Andros. _Even he has more experience than them. _Briefly I wondered if Andros saw us as friends or strangers. I snapped out of my thoughts as Carlos gave a jerk. I tensed, my right hand going to my left hip, I was ready to summoned my sword, but he only rolled onto his side and I relaxed slightly. I turned as Cassie came in with another blanket, unfolded it, and draped it over Carlos. He jerked again, both Cassie and I tensed, then relaxed again as he settled back to sleep. I was sure that Cassie sensed something, because she was as jumpy as I was. I glanced at the doorway wondering what the boys could be doing, also I wondered when they were going to come back. _I'm getting more jittery by the moment._ I bounced on my toes as Cassie turned toward me after smoothing down the covers over Carlos.

"You alright?" she asked. I shook my head.

"No. Something's not right here. There's something more to this bite, my healing power should have....healed it but it didn't, it returned and it 's changing Carlos." Cassie glanced at him, Carlos was now lying on his back, his eyes were still closed. She turned back to me her worry slowly changing into fear and a hint of panic.

"Changing him? Changing him into what?" I pulled out my computer, comforted that I had a bit of the Command Center in my hands, where Tentomon and Dad used to reside. _Dad, I wish you were here, then you can tell us what's happening._ Sadness crept over me, but I quickly pushed it away and answered Cassie's question.

"I don't know." She looked at my computer.

"Has your computer found out anything?" I shook my head .

"No, not since the last time I scanned him." I looked down at the screen. His molecular structure seemed to be changing slowly, into what the computer gave no sign of telling me. Both of us jumped again when we heard Andros's voice .

"Cassie, Amy." We both looked down at Cassie's communicator. Cassie lifted up her wrist and spoke into it.

"We're right here Andros."

"Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure. Amy seems to think that the bite is going to change Carlos into something." There was silence on the other end. We heard TJ mutter

"How can she possibly know?" Irritation went through me.

"What did you find out?" I asked curtly.

"The bite is from a bug called the Braillian bug, I've seen it before. If you get bite, you change into a monster. Look you have to strap Carlos down before he begins to change. TJ and I will return in a bit." Cassie looked at me, the panic began to become more profound on her face, she turned and gazed at Carlos for a few moments.

Finally she turned and began to ask me questions about how I seemed to know that this was going to happen.

"Did you know that something like this was going to happen?" She asked with some anger. I sighed wearily. _Oh gee, she still suspects me of being evil. _I thought sarcastically.

"No Cassie," I said with patience.

"Knowing that something bad is going to happen in a situation comes with the experience of being a Power Ranger. It's instinct, once you've been a Ranger for as long as I have you'll know it as well. " She looked at me for a moment, it seemed to satisfy her for she turned away without a word and began to pace back and forth.

A few moments later we both heard voices, the boys were back! We met at the bridge where Andros was relieved that nothing had happened to us.

"How's Carlos?" asked TJ.

"Still the same, the change hadn't occurred yet." Cassie said. I asked Andros if he had seen the guy that I had gotten a glimpse of. Disappointment with a mixture of relief went through me as he shook his head, saying that he had TJ had conducted a brief sweep of the area where Carlos and the attack took place.

"We did find something, another Braillian bug." Cassie and I both sucked in deep breaths and I began to eye both boys warily.

"Don't worry, we're fine. We weren't bitten." said TJ. I let out a sigh of relief. Andros was certain that whoever unleashed the bug on Carlos must have been there when Andros and TJ preformed their sweep. With a twinge of guilt I reliezed that I should have been preforming a sweep of my own. _I would have been able to find out who was on the planet that attacked the boys. _But I was too busy worrying about how I felt about Andros and the others and trying to console Cassie, I wasn't even thinking! We all jumped when DECA sounded the alarm.

"Andros! Carlos has escaped the infirmary! I repeat Carlos has escaped the infirmary!" The others bolted toward the infirmary with me limping as fast as I could behind them. Once out into the hall, I stopped and looked around, fighting down the instinct to draw my sword. _This is a team mate You don't draw your sword on a team mate_, _what will the others think?_ Soon the others came back, fear was on each of their faces and panic.

"He's not there." said TJ.

"He broke the straps." said Cassie her eyes wide. _Naturally._ I thought. I pulled out my computer, my mind already in overdrive. _This was no accident or coincidence, someone unleashed that bug on us on purpose._

"You found him?" asked Andros looking over my shoulder at the plans to the Astro Mega Ship.

"I'm searching." I said briskly.

I lifted up my head and looked at all of them.

"Andros, is there any way that the transformation could be reversed? An antidote of some kind?" He looked at me blankly.

"Antidote?"

"Andros!" I snapped angrily. It seemed to take him a few moments to pull himself together.

"Yeah, yeah. There is. On my home planet."

"Good, go to your planet and get it." I ordered. Before Andros could move however, Carlos came crashing down on top of us. Cassie screamed as she was shoved out of the way by Andros and was knocked to one side, she slammed into the wall.

"Everyone spread out!" I barked spinning to avoid getting a faceful of talons. I leaped at Carlos , who was busily growling and trying to take swipes at the others. Cassie had gotten to her feet and was trying to get through to him.

"Carlos its us! Your friends!"

"Carlos!" called TJ leaping in front of me and trying to restrain him.

"Carlos stop!" Suddenly Cassie appeared beside TJ and grabbed onto Carlos.

"Cassie! All of you get out of the way!" I shouted. My hands were glowing yellow. Andros was staring at me a look of shock on his face.

"You're going to use a Power Blast on him?"

"Just a low powered one, it'll be enough to knock him out. We can't afford for him to hurt us, if he does then there's a good chance of all of us turning into monsters." _God in heaven, I do not want to even go through that experience again!_ Cassie and TJ were shaken off easily, Carlos charged at Andros and I. I shifted into a stance ready to fire, but Andros suddenly grabbed my hands and pointed them downward

"Andros, get out of the way!" I tried to shove him away but he wouldn't budge.

"No! You'll hurt him!"

"It's the only way to subdue him! I can't use my other powers, there'll be a good chance that I'll get stung and turn into a monster, plus I don't have enough room here in this hall way to properly fight him." While all of this was going on Cassie and TJ had thrown themselves at Carlos and were struggling to restrain him but once again they were thrown off. Carlos continued to charge us, I saw how close he was over Andros's shoulder.

"Get down!" I yelled. Andros turned and at the same time released his grip on my hands. I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him down with me so that we were on the floor, Carlos was still racing towards us, for a minute I expected him to swoop down and deliver a killing blow, but amazingly he didn't. Instead he leapt over us and continued to race down the hall. Cassie and TJ both ran to us.

"What...?" TJ started as Andros and I rose to our feet, he was glaring at me. He opened his mouth. But I cut him off.

"Later Andros, we have to find Carlos." I began to limp as fast as I could down the hall. The others followed, I had scooped up my computer, it had fallen to the floor in the midst of the battle, I was relieved to see that it was unharmed. I continued down the hall, following the red dot that was Carlos.

"He's heading toward the engine room." _Good more spacious_. I thought going over ideas on how to subdue Carlos without hurting him. In moments we reached it. Stopping outside we approached cautiously. I closed my computer and placed it in my back pocket. _As if we don't have enough to deal with. _I grumbled silently as we entered the room. We looked around.

"There!" shouted TJ, we turned our heads, Carlos was on the catwalk near the engine. TJ aimed his Blaster at him but Andros shoved his arm down.

"Don't you'll hit the engines!" Before any of us could act through Carlos leapt at us and began slashing, we all leaped away.

"Cassie! TJ ! Get out of the way!" I shouted as I prepared to levitate Carlos. Cassie had grabbed Carlos by the arm.

"Carlos stop please!" She begged, suddenly she gave a yelp of pain and stumbled back one hand on the side of her neck. _Oh, great._ TJ was shoved away, I shot out my arm.

"Don't!" Shouted Andros, but I had already flung Carlos out of the engine room, he slammed into the wall, and lay there for a minute stunned. I began to limp toward him, but Andros grabbed me and pulled me back.

"Andros you idiot! Let go! We need to contain him." When we looked back Carlos had already fled. I rounded on Andros and began to yell at him

"What the hell! I had him! I could have contained him if you hadn't gotten in the way."

"You were going to hurt him!"

"Of coarse not! I was going to use my telekinesis to lift him into the air and get him over to the bridge, while you would go ahead and get that antidote." He stared at me.

"That was your plan?" I yanked my arm out of his grip and glared at him.

"Of course it was. Andros what the hell is wrong with you? You've dealt with this stuff before, you of all people should know how to handle this. Instead you're acting as if this is the first time

you're seeing this stuff." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I lowered my voice slightly of its anger and exasperation.

"Look, I know that all of this must be bringing up some bad memories for you but, and not to sound uncaring or anything, but we don't have time to deal with it right now. Right now we have to focus on finding Carlos, tying him down while you go find that antidote." I paused.

"And I'm sorry that I called you an idiot." Andros looked at me, pain was in his eyes.

"I'm sorry too Amy, and you're right. Seeing Carlos change and having him attack us does bring a lot of bad memories back. It's just that back then I had to hurt a lot of my friends when they turned into those monsters, I still feel a bit guilty about it but I had to do it. And I was hoping never to do it again, but now....." His voice trailed off. I placed my hand on his shoulder sympathetically.

"It's different this time, you know that there is an antidote and you can get it for us, meanwhile Cassie, TJ and I will search for Carlos and try to subdue him and I promise you, he will not get hurt." Andros breathed a sigh.

"Thanks Amy."

"Uh...guys?" We both turned at the sound of TJ's voice.

"We have another problem." Cassie was looking at us with scared eyes and her face contorted in pain. She had one hand on the side of her neck. She had been stung.

We had gone back to the infirmary and had strapped Cassie down. Andros was busy pacing back and forth, anger on his face. He kept stealing glances at Cassie and muttering under his breath.

"Idiot......I should have let Amy.....why didn't I?.....Cassie oh god." He walked back to the table and gazed down at her, he laid his hand on top of hers.

"It's all my fault." he said in a low voice to her. She looked up at him and shook her head.

"Don't blame yourself Andros, I don't." He turned his face away and said to TJ and I.

"I'm going to KO-35, I'm going to find that antidote....I'm pretty sure some of it is still there....I hope to...." He glanced again at Cassie. TJ stepped forward.

"I'll go with you, whoever sent that second bug at me, could be on your home planet." I nodded in agreement.

"If they know about the bug then they sure as hell know about the antidote." Andros nodded his thanks at TJ then he turned to me.

"You sure you're going to be alright? If you need help just contact us." I nodded after wishing them luck and assuring Andros that I will not harm a single hair on Cassie's head if she transformed before they could return with the antidote, they took off. I stared after them for a moment then turned and gave Cassie the once over. _As Kim would say."He's got it bad."_ Despite myself I smiled. _It always lifts my spirits to see the power of love when times are at their darkest._ I glanced down at my engagement ring and touched it, my mind momentarily filled with Dex and I did not register on the fact that Carlos was now in the room and racing toward me! Instinctively I drew my sword and blocked his claw as he brought it down on me. Ducking low and sweeping to the side, I preformed a round house kick to his back and brought him to his knees, he rolled out of the way and dodged my front kick. He spun and charged, I flung out an arm and flung Carlos away from Cassie, who was watching all of this with wide eyes. Carlos let out another grunt as he was slammed into the wall, after he crashed to the floor he leapt to his feet. I raised an eyebrow. _Looks like he's gotten stronger._ I tighten my grip on my hilt and charged at him, reminding myself that this was a team mate that I was fighting. _I just have to be careful how much power I'm going to use._ I aimed a kick at his legs, he leapt and kicked out. It connected with my face, I went sprawling, my sword flew from my hands. I made to my hands and knees before I felt a pressure on my back and was shoved back to the ground. I let out a yelp as I felt Carlo's foot scrap against the scars on my back, I began to struggle to shove the pain away only to freeze when I heard the sound of growling and ripping fabric! Cassie! _Oh hell. _Using the pain to give me strength, I threw off Carlos, leapt to my feet, spun and fired a Power Blast at Cassie, as she came lumbering toward me. She let out a guttural yell as she was slammed into the table where she and Carlos had lain previously and fell out of sight on the other side. _Sorry Andros._ I thought as I as threw a punch toward Carlos, he staggered back, leaping up, I made him stumble back a few more steps before I summoned my sword and limped out of the infirmary as fast as I could. I looked behind me and saw that Cassie and Carlos were both running after me. _Good._ I thought as I headed toward the bridge. A-6 was there monitoring our every move as I dove in there.

"DECA shut the doors!" I shouted. The doors slammed shut in my team mates faces, soon they began to pound on the door, on both doors, trying to break them down to get in. I whipped out my computer and began to type, finally I had gotten through to Andros and TJ, but only TJ answered.

"TJ! Have you and Andros found that antidote yet?"

"No, we ran into some trouble Andros is dealing with it right now. Why, did...?"

"Yeah." I practically screamed.

"Cassie changed, she and Carlos are now trying to break into the bridge I've lured them here so that they won't cause any damage to the ship."

"Hang tight Amy, we'll be there as fast as we can!" I looked up and saw with a thrill of fear that one of them had slipped their talons underneath the door and was attempting to lift it. _The strength of a monster._ I thought as I sheathed my sword, lifted up my hand and pointed it at the door, it slammed shut, Carlos or Cassie had managed to get their talons out from underneath it. I breathed a sigh, but then sucked the breath back in again when I saw that the second door that led into the bridge was slowly being opened, talons appeared from underneath the door. Once again I pointed my other hand on the door and slammed in shut. I kept switching my gaze back and forth between the two doors willing them to hold. _Hurry it up guys!_ I thought. Another thrill of fear went through me as Carlos and Cassie both switched tactics and began to pound on the doors, and by they sound of the _Bangs _they were punching the centers. Soon they were going to break through and I would have to battle the both of them. I braced myself as the pounding continued, A-6 was cowering in a corner, both doors were shaking due to the strength of the punches. Soon cracks appeared, then a small hole, which grew larger and larger until they were able to poke their talons through and began to try to make the holes big enough to fit through. I lowered my hands and reached for my sword and positioned myself in a battle stance, ready for them to come bursting through the door. I began to power up as soon as I saw that one of them had made a hole big enough to fit their head through, but before they had made it more bigger or before I could unleash my attack, both of them suddenly froze, stumbled backward and vanished from my sight. For a moment I stared at the holes in the doors thinking that they could be planning something else, a distraction of some kind, I took a step forward cautiously, my sword at the ready and glowing, my heart thumping fast. Then relief washed through me as I heard TJ call out to me. _They found the antidote!_ I powered down and sheathed my sword. DECA opened the doors and there in the hallway stood TJ and Andros, and on the ground at their feet were Cassie and Carlos, they've been reverted back to their human forms! I limped toward them just as Cassie was opening her eyes.

"Oh thank goodness." I said as I helped her to her feet, Carlos had also woken up and the both of them were looking around in confusion.

"What happened?" asked Carlos.

"How did we get here?" asked Cassie. Andros's only response to Cassie was hugging her tightly, I smiled as TJ asked me if I was alright.

"Yes, I'm okay. " I asked them if they were okay, both boys looked as if they had gone up against someone tough. My first thought was that they had met Goldar or a couple of Tengu Warriors, but after asking a couple of questions they both said that they had been jumped by a red guy who was pretty powerful; and had kicked Andros around, and pretty badly by the looks for the bruises. I raised an eyebrow as I healed him._ The damage that this guy caused, it went right through the suit._

"It was almost like he was waiting for us on KO-35." said Andros.

"Maybe he was." I said. They all turned and looked at me.

"Maybe this guy was the one that unleashed those bugs, the one that stung Carlos and the one that attacked TJ." Andros thought and nodded.

"Yeah, he must have seen me destroy the Braillian bug and knew that his plan was going to fail, that's when he thought he could finish the both of us off when we arrived at my home planet." An angry look crossed his face, his hands were balled into fists.

"I'll make him pay for....." before he could finish though, DECA informed us that a Braillian bug and some unknown life form were on KO-35 and were calling out a challenge to the Power Rangers.

"Oh, they;'ll get a challenge alright." muttered Andros as we all raced toward the Power Chutes and landed on the planet. In front of us was a guy that reminded me a bit of a porcupine, he had spikes on the side of his arms and down the front of his body and I even saw some sticking out from behind his head.

"Ah, so you must be the Power Rangers. It's a real pleasure to met you, too bad this first meeting will be short lived."

"Who are you?" I demanded, pulling out my sword and powering it up. He turned to face me.

"You must be the Yellow Ranger that I've heard so much about, this is an honor. I've heard so much about you, I will take great pleasure in destroying your friends and then I'll deliver you Dark Specter personally." Excitement rose within me._ Dad. If only I could allow myself to be captured, then I would be taken to Dad and I could free him. But what would be the chances of the both of escaping with our lives._ I tighten my grip on the hilt of my sword as the others raced forward and began to battle the Braillian Bug and the red dude. My hands ached as I struggled with the insane desire to give up and be taken by the enemy. But even though I would be taken to my father, I could also be facing my possible death at the hands of each and every one of my enemies. But if I didn't, I would have keep on fighting, and I would be back to following lead after lead and fighting pointless battle after pointless battle while Dad was moved from place to place, so that my team mates and I were always several steps behind. _I want to.... I can't. I want to! I need to! All of this it's driving me crazy.....but I can't, even though I want to.....I can not be captured......even if it does mean seeing dad again and putting and end to all of this......I can't. _Frustration and anger rose within me at not being able to do a damn thing to stop my dad from feeling the pain that I went through when my own powers were drained, at the impossibility of the entire situation, about how my dad's freedom had just been taken away after he had been trapped in that damn tube for so long, but mostly I was angry because I was so sure that I was going to have to bury him like mom without the chance of saying good bye, without the chance of doing everything in my power to save him. _It's not fair! It's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR!_ I began to lash out at the monster and at the red guy with such ferocity that I nearly failed to see the blue beam that seem to come out of nowhere , it was heading straight toward the monster.

"OH, NO YOU DON'T!" I screamed angrily. In one swift movement I had gotten behind the monster and was holding the beam at bay, the others and the red guy were watching me in astonishment and awe.

"Andros! Now's your chance! Give it everything you've got!" I shouted to him. Andros nodded, I was too busy trying to keep the beam away to see what was happening, but with all the shouting and the wave of power that I felt, I assumed that Andros had finished off the monster with a special move of his and the others were paying the red dude back for turning Carlos and Cassie into monsters. Finally the beam died down which meant that the battle had been won, _even though an entire day was wasted._ I thought bitterly. _But on the bright side,_ I thought as I turned my head and watched my team mates whoop and cheer. _My team mates are safe. I'll find you dad, I won't stop searching for you, I swear._


	11. Chapter 11

**Going to speed things up a bit**

Chapter 11

"So that was Darkonda." said Andros. I glanced up at him, nodded and looked down at the computer screen.

"He's the one that I saw hiding in the bushes on that jungle planet."

"And he's the one that had those two Braillian bugs?" asked Carlos.

"Yes." Andros muttered under his breath. TJ spoke up.

"What did you find out about him Amy? I...mean when you scanned him in the last battle?" I glanced at the data that was on my screen.

"He's actually an agent and a bounty hunter for Dark Specter." I cocked my head a bit frowning slightly. Then continued.

"He can travel at high speeds and warp so that he renders himself nearly invisible." I cast a worried look around at my team mates, then straighten my shoulders I went on.

"His known weapon is, of course, his sword, which can lengthen. How, the computer doesn't actually say, but I have a theory that it's able to do that by force of will, kind of like when my own sword powers up." I looked up at all of them, Andros was looking at my computer in fascination.

"And you got all of this when you scanned him?" asked Carlos. I nodded and struggled a bit not to yell at Carlos for asking such an obvious question. I shut my computer and pocketed it.

"So he's a part of Dark Specter's army?" said Andros. The others turned and gave him looks of surprise. I raised an eyebrow.

"Andros, you've must have met Darkonda before, you've been fighting Dark Specter and Astronema a lot longer than we have."

"Although I've heard of Darkonda, this is the first time that I've met him." Andros looked a bit uncomfortable under the others disbelieving looks.

"I totally know where you're coming from Andros. I got a pretty big shock myself when I found out that I had two enemies after me." Andros smiled when everyone's attention was diverted to me. He nodded his thanks.

"Two enemies?" echoed Cassie. I nodded.

"Yes. On one side I had Lord Zedd, who hated me because I had turned traitor and joined up with the Power Rangers. On the other side was Count Dregon, who basically hated me because I was the off spring of an Eltarian and a human."

"Count Dregon and his minions would sometimes call me a 'filthy half ling'".

"How awful." said Cassie. I raised my other eyebrow, mildly surprised that she shown shock that Dregon called me a half ling when she herself had called me a traitor.

"It's alright Cassie, believe me, I've been called worse." She looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Okay, so how powerful is he?" asked Carlos. I turned toward him.

"Well, from the bruises that he gave Andros, he's tough. As for how powerful he is.....the next time we have a one on one battle with him, then we'll know for sure." I paused for a minute. _From what my computer has told me, this guy reminds me a bit of Goldar, only without the psychotic pigeon army._

"In the mean time, we should keep on high alert if this guy shows up anywhere during our search for dad." The others nodded. I spun and limped out of the room and down the corridor, silently congratulating myself that I had kept my temper in check. Over the last couple of days, I was liable to snap at every little annoying thing that my team mates would do, I was impatient to resume looking for my father, desperate for any kind of sign that he, though it was impossible, might have left behind, a clue of some sort, sometimes I would try to meditate, in an effort to try to telepathically link myself to him by using my Eltarian powers. But damn it to hell!!!!! I couldn't! _Freaking amnesia._ I snarled silently, as my fist connected with a portion of the wall. _Maybe if I could remember my past from Eltar, this search would be over in a snap. _I continued down the hall, not really caring where I was going, only wanting something to do. All we've bieng doing nowadays is fight off monsters, Ecliptor, Quantrons and Darkonda, _and frankly....I'M GETTING FREAKING TIRED OF IT._ I punched the wall again in frustration._ Why doesn't he at least try to contact me? Why doesn't he try to send a message through Dex or King Lexian, or mom or Aisha?_ _Why does the universe have to be so damn big? _I sighed and shook my head. A freash wave of anger and frustration bubbled inside of me._ If we run into any of those snot nosed losers from Astronema's and Dark Specter's army, do not hold back, unleash all of your anger on them so that you won't end up yelling at your team mates and causing a rift in the team. _I focused my thoughts on Goldar._ Where is he now? Does he know that I'm on the brink of insanity that I've got no clues, no leads whatsoever to find my father? Does he know that I'm getting closer and closer to exploding with all of my rage, and frustration and that, I might, end up doing something really stupid, that I'll regret for the rest of my life? Is he laughing at me right now? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that wherever he is, he and the Tengu Warriors are laughing at me and having a good time watching me as I grope around in this darkness that they've shoved me in. _My hands balled into fists and hatred rose within me. I was actually looking forward to facing Goldar in battle, and began to hope and pray that he would show up._ Soon._ I thought to myself as I turned a corner. _I hope it's soon._

A few days later my team mates decided to take a bit of a breather from searching for my dad, even though I was absolutely against this and tried to convince them that we still needed to continue the search.

"With every moment that we waste, dad could be moving farther and farther away." I wailed. TJ grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Amy listen to me. We all know that you're desperate to find and save your dad, but we've been searching for months with very little leads to go on_._" I looked at him, mildly surprised that so much time had slipped by.

"We need a bit of a break from all the searching that we have been doing, so we can clear our minds for a bit, try to think of some new places that we haven'tlooked, think up some new questions that we haven't asked_, _and then we'll resume the search." I looked up at him then after a moment I nodded. _We all need vacations every now and then._ Irritation and frustration filled me, I leaned against one of the windows of the bridge and sighed. _Maybe it's for the best that we take a break from all of our searching_. I turned my head slightly to look at my team mates and a prickle of anger went through as I saw the looks of relief on their faces as the prospect of taking a break. I turned my gaze back to space. Even though I would search day and night for dad, turn over each and every stone, never stopping, always searching, ignore trivial things like eating and resting. The others couldn't. _They're only human. _We landed on a planet that looked like a dessert, nothing but trees, bushes, shrubs and rocks and sand. I arched an eyebrow as I stood with the others in the opening of the hatch.

"We're just going to a bit of exploring, see what's around. Wanna come with?" asked Andros. I shook my head, already slipping into one of my moods.

"Come on." Cassie said, I glared at her. She ignored it.

"You haven't been out of the Mega Ship in a long time Amy, a bit of fresh air will do you wonders." I was about to say no but I relented. I was tired and I was in no mood to fight with Cassie or any of the others. So I just shrugged my shoulders and limped after them. Cassie had a sack in one hand and was swinging it back and forth.

"What's with the sack?" I asked Carlos.

"Oh, that's in case we find anything that looks or seems interesting, we could take it back to the ship and study it. Harmless really." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Hmm." Was all I said, all the while looking at the landscape. _Pretty desolate._ _Wonder how anything can actually grow here_. The landscape also seemed to be a tad barren. _I sincerely doubt that we're going to find something worth taking back to the ship._ _This is a break for them? _I thought as I watched my team mates step between a couple of boulders and down an incline. Deciding to take a short break from walking and from my team mates, I sat down on a near by flat stone and took out my computer, opening it I began to type in the whereabouts of Goldar. _All of this chasing Astromena and Dark Specter is a complete waste of time, it's Goldar that we should _really _be tracking down and question. He's the one that's behind all of this._ I let out a sigh of frustration as my computer came up with a blank of Goldar's whereabouts. Slamming it shut, I tossed it onto the ground and glared at it. _Goldar.....Goldar....most of what has been done to me has been his doing. My torture into near madness,, Kimberly's kidnaping, Kat turning against me, Justin's own kidnap and torture, and now....dad. I should have known, why didn't I see? I should have questioned Justin on what he could have possibly told Goldar I should have known that he would have gone after the only living relative that I have. I should have contacted Tentomon, King Lexian, dad himself and warned him._ I let out a moan and began to shake my head back and forth. _Why didn't I? All of this could have been prevented. _I began to think of want could have happened if I had alerted my father of the attack. And that added more to my despair and sorrow.I lifted up my head and looked up at the sky, blinking back tears_. Dammit! All this power that I have! All of the friends and allies that I have...and I couldn't....again......damn you! _

I pounded my fist on my knee. _I could have saved him._ I lifted up my head and stared off into the distance. _I could have saved a lot of people._ I was jerked out of my brooding when I heard the others yelling, I jumped to my feet, bent down, scooped up my computer, shoved it into my pocket and ran to the boulders where I saw my team mates disappear, I paused for a second I was about to leap down the incline when I saw them running up the incline toward me. I leaped back as they all charged past me.  
"Hey! What the....? What are you guys....?" They didn't answer me, they only kept on running. I turned my head in the direction where they had come from and saw a dozen or so cloaked beings racing at me. I stared at them as they approached then I looked back at the retreting backs of my team mates. _Oh for Pete's sake!_ I started to leap down but then thought that maybe I could talk to them, tell them that we come in peace and all that, I took another look at my team mates pursuers. _Nah, something tells me that they would attack anything that moves, or anything that sets foot on their planet._ I leaped down the incline and limped as fast as I could toward them, preforming a baseball slid, I sent one tripping, the other creatures converged on me, I had already leaped to my feet and was spin kicking, high kicking, and tornado kicking the creatures away from me. I fired low powered Power Blasts at them, I also used my powers to fling a couple in the air and away. _Enough of this. _I began to spin rapidly with my arms folded against my body, I became a blur as I began to make the dust began to lift up and swirled over the creatures obscuring their view, they threw up their arms as I continued to spin lifting up my arms over my head, making the dust swirl around us faster and faster so that the creatures were completely blinded. I quickly slowed down my spinning, morphed the shot off. dodging the stumbling creatures as they bumped into each other or fell, tripping over their own feet as they tried to find a way out of the dust cyclone. I made it out to the fresh air, shot through the two boulders and saw my team mates rushing toward the battle, fully morphed. I demorphed and limped as fast I could toward them.  
"Amy! Where are they? Are they after you?" asked Andros as I reached them. I shook my head.  
"No, I sent up a dust cyclone to confuse them, come on we should get off this planet, this is a useless fight."  
"Useless?" shouted Cassie who bristled. I had given the others shoves toward the Mega Ship. I turned back to her.  
"Look we have to get off this planet and leave before that dust cyclone clears and they find us. So shut up Cassie and get on the ship all of you! NOW!" I was already limping toward the Mega Ship and shouting at DECA and A-6 to start the engines. The others ran after me, we all leaped onto the hatch. The engines rumbled, the hatch closed, I turned and was already limping rapidly toward the bridge. I reached it and slid into a chair.  
"DECA on screen!" I shouted, without hesitation the screen cleared and showed the outside, I saw the creatures had already cleared the boulders and were heading our way!  
"DECA take off!" I ordered. The ship began to slowly rise into the air and for a split second I thought that we were safe but then everything began to shake and tremble, and the ship began to lurch to one side ever so slightly. _Great. They caught up with us._ I got off of the chair and charged back down the hall and toward the hatch where my teammates were and were battling the creatures, a couple of them had even managed to climb onto the ship and were trying to get in! _That's the last time that I go easy on anybody. _I thought as I charged and kicked one off of Carlos, I yanked Cassie back from the edge and threw bodily threw her further into the ship, the bag that she had brought with her banged into my leg.  
"Cassie get rid of that bag." I snapped as I fired a Power Blast at one that was hanging onto the edge of the hatch. It didn't let out a sound as it flew off. The ship lurched again, we all cried out as the ship slid into a slight nose dive, I grabbed onto the others as they nearly followed the creature that I had sent flying.  
"DECA, please tell me that they are not weighing the ship down."  
"They are not weighing the ship down." DECA said simply though I thought I caught a hint of sarcasm. I yanked my friends back as far as I could.  
"Get to the bridge and stay there."  
"What are you going to do?" asked TJ. _Isn't it obvious?_  
"I'm going to save our butts. After I go, I want you to close the hatch so that none of those other things get in." I turned and limped out of the hatch and leaped off it!  
"Amy!" shouted my team mates. They struggled not to go sliding after me, turning, they began to fight the gravity that threatened to pull them down into the open hatch way and into space. They made it to the bridge and Andros immediately brought up the screen to show me flying around and blasting off the creatures that were on the ship and were tearing it apart. I flew here and there, firing, kicking, punching, levitating and flinging. they saw that some of the creatures would be foolish enough to leap off the ship and fly at me, I would either dodge them or give them a good hard punch to the gut or face and then send them reeling back to their planet. Finally the ship was creature- free and no longer weighed down. The hatch was opened and I stepped onto the ship again, they were all waiting for me at the bridge, they all crowded around me. I waved off thier gratitude.  
"Hey, no prob guys." I turned to Cassie and grinned at her. I felt a bit better after that fight.  
"You were right Cassie, going outside the ship was the best thing for me, thanks." I patted her shoulder.  
"You're welcome. I think." She said with some confusion. Andros was asking DECA about the amount of damage that those creatures made to the ship. She quickly ran a list. Electric malfunctions on MegaDecks 4, 6, 2, stabilizers were offline and the accelerators were overheating. He nodded.

"Thanks DECA." I volunteered to fix the malfunctions on the MegaDecks, TJ and Carlos were going to get the accelerators cooled down As I was leaving I heard Andros say something about "a sample." I also Cassie saying that she'll go get it and I vaguely wondered what they had gotten. Forty minutes later, I put my hands on my hips and surveyed my repair job. _Everything is fixed here._ I limped out of room and continued down the hall, _now maybe we can finally get back to the search._ As I returned to the bridge wondering if the others had managed to fully repair what had been damaged, I received a surprise when I saw that everyone was crowded around Andros.

"What's going on?" I asked looking around at all of them. They turned toward me, Cassie took a step toward me and explained what had happen only a few minutes ago. She had been attacked by a monster that had damaged the engines hull that had come from a pod that Cassie had found on the planet that we had just left.

"The pod was open and the monster just flew at me. I managed to get the cargo bay doors open and sent that thing out into space." She paused and looked at me.

"Glad that you're alright." was all I said. She blinked then continued to explain that she had noticed a hidden door that had sprung open, she had came back, alerted the others and went inside the room to see a healing chamber, inside that chamber, in a cryogenic tube was a Silver Ranger. I raised an eyebrow as mild surprise went through me, I turned to Andros and eyed him curiously. He cleared his throat and began telling me that the Silver Ranger was his best friend Zhane, and that two years ago he and Zhane had been fighting to protect KO-35 from Dark Specter and his armies. They had been outnumbered and outmatched, Andros had nearly been killed by a monster but Zhane had leaped in front of him and taken the blow. I sucked in a breath, horror going through. _To watch your best friend be killed right in front of you._ I closed my eyes briefly as an image of Tommy lying on the grass that was stained with his blood flashed through my mind. I opened my eyes again and Andros continued.

"Zhane was barley alive when I brought him on the ship and placed him in the cryogenic tube to keep him alive. He's been in hyper sleep ever since." He paused for a bit then turned his face away from us while he blinked rapidly. Cassie went over to him and put her arms around him. The others and I looked at each other, not really knowing what to say. The ship began to rock and tremble suddenly, all of us cried out as we took a tumble and the ship began to go down. _Oh, Lord what now?_ I struggled to my feet and managed to levitate my team mates a foot or so off the ground. Finally we came to a crashing halt and the bridge went pitch dark. I set my team mates on the ground and at the same time the lights flash on.

"Let me guess, we've just landed on the planet that we've barely escaped from."

"Yes." replied DECA. I scowled. Then I cracked my knuckles.

"Hostile aliens approaching." Without another word, other than to preform a full damage scan on the ship later, we morphed and took off. Down the hall, and out the hatch door.We saw a full army of the creatures that I had battled racing towards us.

"Hi!" I called to them, already powering up.

"Remember me?" I saw that some of them did remember and had frozen in their tracks only to be blasted into the air. I hadn't noticed the monster that was busily knocking the living daylights out of Cassie, after it had thrown her down it raced toward me. _I so don't have time for this._

"You want a piece of me little man?" I raced at the monster and my fist connected with its gut, I dropped down and swept it's legs from underneath it. Leaping up I took out my sword and was prepared to finish it when I happened to look up. And saw that a couple of the creatures were running up the hatch and into the MegaShip, and I saw that more of them were tearing and ripping at the outside. I heard Andros order DECA to seal everything that was inside the Ship. While I had been distracted I found myself flat on my back facing the sky with a sharp pain coming from my mid section and my chin. The monster had attacked me, fled and gone to attack the others, I rolled onto my side and raised myself to my knees. _Stupid! Never take your eyes off your enemy._ One of the creatures was racing toward me I raised my left arm and blocked it's kicks, with my right hand I grabbed its other leg and pulled causing him to preform a backflip. Rising to my feet I sent it spinning in a wide circle that continued to become wider and wider knocking out the other creatures that were attacking my team mates. With a flick of my hand, I sent him careening into a boulder, it slid down and lay on its back unmoving. I looked around, we were still pretty much outnumbered. _I'll take care of this. _I began to spin, and in doing so I lifted up my arms over my head, my hands glowing with power.

I stopped in mid-spin and spreading out my arms. The blast spread out and the creatures were either knocked down or tumbled through the air. I straighten and stared at them at those left that were still standing.

"Now, do you really want to continue?" In answer the creatures turned tail and ran. I laughed to myself and turned to the others, only to have my smile completely wiped off of my mouth. The monster! It was still standing! _It must have dodged the attack somehow._ It started to charge when it stopped and stared at something near the ship. Turning we all let out gasps as we watched several of the creatures that had ran into the ship come flying out. Andros muttered.

"It can't be." It was the Silver Ranger that the others told me about, standing on the hatch doorway and looking at the scene before him.

"Andros?" He looked toward the rest of us.

"Who are these people?" Before we could answer, the monster had resumed it's charge. The Silver Ranger flipped over it, turned and began to, basically treat the monster like a punching back, the others and I stayed out of the fight. This Ranger was something all right, the way he moved, dodged, spun and ducked the monster's punches and kicks. It seemed as if he were enjoying the fight itself for he kept laughing sometimes. Spinning around several times so that he ended up a few feet away from the monster, the Ranger held out his right arm

"Super Silverizer!" He shouted and a blade appeared on his arm, holding it in front of him the Ranger charged at the monster and began to slash at him. With the way that the monster yelled, it was safe to assume that the Ranger...I mean Zhane was hitting it at all the right places. After a few more blows to the torso, the monster looked as if were done and fell backward, Zhane turned his back on it and it exploded. We all rushed toward him, and we were about to congratulate him and introduce ourselves when we heard a roar. I leaped over everyone else, pulling out my sword and powering it up, I slashed at the resurrected monster, combining the attack with a Ranger kick It exploded, and after a few moments of watching and making sure that the monster could no longer come back to life, I sheathed my sword and turned back to the others. _There will be none of that thank you. _


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Wow." said Zhane after a moment staring at me as I approached.

"Yeah." breathed the others. I stood in front of Zhane and looked him up and down.

"That...that was amazing." Zhane said.

"Thanks." I said wearily. Andros stepped forward and while he was thanking Zhane for showing up and destroying the monster he began introducing TJ and the others, I was scanning the horizon. Even though the creatures had taken off a while ago, there was a good chance that they would return with more stronger re-enforcements although I pretty much doubted it. I turned to Zhane and stuck out my hand when I heard my name being said.

"Amy Karmer. Pleased to met you." I said powering down, the others did the same. I saw that Zhane was about a head taller than me, had blue eyes, that lit up for some reason with blond hair that fluttered a bit in the slight breeze that swept over us. Zhane, to my surprise, instead of shaking my hand, brought my hand to his lips and kissed it.

"Pleased to met you Amy Karmer." He flashed me a smile. I raised an eyebrow slightly. _Okay_. Turning back to the others:

"Come on let's get back to the ship, DECA and A-6 may have damage reports ready for us." I limped in the direction of the Mega Ship. Zhane soon caught up with me.

"Hey you're hurt!" He said, alarm coming into his voice, I smiled suddenly reminded of Dex.

"It's quite alright." I said still looking straight ahead.

"I'm not hurt, its just a souvenir from an earlier battle."

"Oh. Can you tell me about it?" We were now walking down the hall of the Mega Ship and heading toward the bridge. While I was explaining the short version of the battle, DECA and A-6 were giving Andros and the others a status report on the damage that those creatures and the monster made. Thankfully it wasn't half bad. We went outside again to repair the damage, Zhane stayed with Andros and began to ask questions, no doubt about all that he had missed in the last two years. A while later all damages were repaired and once again we were on our way.

Limping to my room to have a bit of peace and quiet I flopped down into my bed and stretched my legs. Massaging my right ankle, I pulled out my computer and checked my energy levels. _Pretty good, I just need a bit of a rest then I'll be fully charged._ Closing it I glanced up and saw Zhane standing in the doorway. I smiled at him.

"Hello Zhane."

"Mind if I come in?" I shook my head, he stepped in, grabbed the chair from the desk and sat on it backwards and for a moment continued to watch me as I healed my ankle.After several moments he cleared his throat causing me to glance up. It hit me then that Zhane had come in here to talk and I had completely ignored him!

"Sorry about that." I said putting my leg down.

"That's okay."

"What was thing that you're working on anyway?" He asked pointing at my computer. I blinked in surprise, usually new allies asked about my ankle first and my powers second. _He must have seen the use of healing power before._

"Oh, it's my miniature computer, it holds a large amount of data of our enemies, their attacks, their strengths and weaknesses, ya know stuff like that. It also has data on each of us." He looked interested.

"Really? Can I see?" I hesitated for a split second, then handed it over. After opening it, he began to tap at the keys and generally look it over. While I had been double checking the repairs made to the ship, Andros and Zhane had spent a good deal of the day walking around, with the others trailing behind like puppies, as Andros caught Zhane up with the news, the going ons and the happenings of the past two years. I would often smile as I would watch them pass me suddenly reminded of dad and me. After the battles with Zedd, Gasket and King Mondo, and after some much need rest and relaxation, I would often teleport to the Command Center/Power Chamber and would spend hours talking with Dad. We would talk about things like what dad wanted to do after he found a way to escape his prison, what I wanted to do after there was peace in the galaxy. The places that we wanted to go, the sights that we wanted to see, the things that we wanted to do. During our talks I would feel more like a daughter instead of a warrior. And I guess he felt like a father instead of a mentor and leader. _I hope that when all of this ends we can still do those things, together, as a family._ _It's been long over due._

A few weeks passed and nothing out of the ordinary happened, except that Darkonda began to reappear, this didn't surprise me in the least, whenever a new Ranger came along, or a new ally, the Power Rangers would receive upgrades, usually in the form of weapons or Zords. Now since we had already received new Zords then the presence of a new Ranger meant the return of an old enemy. I kept expecting to see Goldar flying towards us with his army of Tengu Warriors behind him, ready to swoop down and kill all of us, but luckily(though I had a feeling that we would see him soon) we didn't.

I was surprised that Andros had gone undercover, multiple times, to try to obtain information about dad's whereabouts without telling the rest of us, I was especially angry at him for not telling me. The two of us would have been able to get more information, not just some dribble and a couple of key cards. After several minutes of yelling at Andros and hitting him on every inch that I could punch, while he tried to shield himself from my blows and after calling him a idiotic moron, I stomped away.

The Key Cards that Andros had won from Darkonda in a card game(_a card game?)_ Actually belonged to dad, at first I thought that the cards had information that would led us to where dad was, or at least show us his location, this was not so unfortunately. Instead it gave the location of new Zords, ones that had been stashed away on one of Jupiter's moons. The Zords, respectfully called Mega Vehicles, combined into the Mega Voyager, packed a pretty powerful punch whenever the Astro Mega Zord was getting it's butt kicked big time. And even though it aided us time and again, I really couldn't have cared less even if we managed to resurrect the Shogun Zords, what was important to me right now was to find some kind of lead on my dad.

Anyway, with Zhane joining the team Darkonda began to make more and more appearances. He would usually be kicking the crude out of TJ and the others with his brute strength and his warping(he was nearly impossible to touch to the others, even Andros). Having enough of his laughing and kicking my team mate's tails all over the place, I had finally managed to throw up a shield of earth as he was coming right at me(the trick is not to blink) and laughed as he slammed face first into it. After kicking his butt from here to high noon(and enjoying every minute of it, I might add) he had turned tail and ran, but not before Astronema tried to make him Zord size. Now I was in no mood to waste time on a big Zord battle that was going to damage the Mega Zord and severely weaken us and give Astronema more of an upper hand(even though we had the Mega Voyager, it was still a big waste of time.)

"I don't think so!" I shouted as I took out my sword, absorbed the blast that came from Astronema's ship and redirected it at Darkonda. He managed to warp away at the last minute, and like all henchmen, decided to come back and begin cursing us, luckily I had a bit of power left in my sword and sent him reeling.

"Wow!" Zhane said looking at me with admiration.

"What a woman." I turned, I saw that he was unmorphed. _Looks like he's morphing powers went on the fritz again._

"Did you say something Zhane?" For some reason he blushed and shook his head frantically.

"N–no. I didn't say anything. Just that you're so awesome." I smiled at him as I powered down and sheathed my sword and smiled modestly.

"Aw, you're sweet." I began to limp away from the battle scene and began helping the others up off the ground. Behind me Zhane was cursing himself for saying that line out loud.  
"Really now, that Darkonda dude is seriously getting on my nerves." I grumbled.  
"Yeah, but you sure showed him." Zhane said. I turned to him.  
"Yes, but don't forget, I may have defeated him today but he will have learned from his mistake and come after all of us again with more cunning next time." I spread out my hands and healed my team mates.

I was just sitting down to have a bit of a snack before heading down to Earth to visit Dex when Zhane came strolling in. I smiled at him in a friendly manner, he grinned back and sat beside me as I set a plate of pasta with alfredo sauce with little bits of shrimp and began to eat. After a few minutes of silence Zhane asked.

"So you knew all along that I wasn't dying?" I smiled and let out a chuckle.

"Yep." I continued eating. Zhane became silent again.

"So," he said slowly, "why didn't you tell the others?" I glanced at him. Zhane had allowed TJ and the others to think that he was dying, when in reality he wasn't, he was just unable to stay in morph for very long. TJ and the others, thinking that Zhane would speed up his "death" by participating in rigorous activities(like fighting off Astronema and Co.)told him to stay in the ship while the rest of us morphed and dealt with them. Zhane couldn't take sitting on the sidelines and joined us and that was when(after the battle) the truth came out. Personally I didn't see anything wrong with him, except for a lowing surge of power that I kept sensing. I answered his first question after taking a sip of my Coke.

"I just knew, my powers sensed that your morphing powers were waning. I recognized some of the symptoms: Your tiredness, lack of energy." He looked at me surprised.

"You recognized....? You mean you've seen this before?" I nodded.

"A friend of mine who had been a Ranger, her source of power fell into the hands of evil, she couldn't stay morphed for very long without tiring herself out and making herself vulnerable." I winced as I remembered what I could have done for my sister, Kimberly. Zhane saw the look of pain on my face, even though he wanted to ask more questions, he didn't. I answered his second question.

"Tried to, they didn't listen." I said with indifference and a hint of irritation.

"Oh. So this means that even if I tell you that I really am dying, you wouldn't believe me?" I looked at him and cocked an eyebrow, then I turned back to my lunch. _Guess not. _He thought with some disappointment. When he had told the others the truth they had reacted with a bit of anger, surprise and relief. He shifted in his seat and once again turned his head toward me.

"Um...." he hesitated. I had been angry at Andros for two whole weeks now after he told us about his undercover work and bringing back diddly-squat and have been taking it out on the various monsters(plus Andros) that Astronema has been siccing on us. He took a deep breath then plunged ahead before he could change his mind.

"Um....why do you keep hitting Andros? I mean he is the leader of our group and all..." he paused for I had smirked and was trying hard not to laugh. To me Andros wasn't a leader, he was a fellow team mate whose butt I could kick without feeling the least bit shameful about the action. _Now, if it had been Tommy...._

"He deserved it. He should have taken me with him, we could have gotten more information out of the people in that place that Andros visited." I had questioned him if he had or had not seen Goldar. Andros had shaken his head which made me all the more angrier. _Goldar would know where Dark Specter is keeping dad._ An inkling of a thought occurred to me. _What if Dark Specter nor Astronema have Dad...what if Goldar is the one that has him?_ Unwillingly my mind filled with thoughts of the things that Goldar used to do to me, only they were being done to Dad. Bile rose in my throat and I was ready to vomit onto my now clean plate, but I managed to hold it in. I leaned back in my chair, my hand coming up to cover my eyes.

"You alright?" asked Zhane. I spread my fingers a bit so that I could peek at him, ever since Zhane came along I had been debating on whether or not I should confide in him my doubts, worries, frustrations and generally tell him what's going on in my mind, ya know tell him everything that's happening. But then I stuck to only giving him information little by little whenever he asked for it, or whenever I was asked to give it out, even though he was a team mate and a fellow Ranger, I didn't know him all that well to begin with, and besides I didn't want to overwhelm the guy with my problems when he's just barely getting back into the act of being a Ranger after two solid years of hyper sleep. But in all instances I was the same with the others, we weren't true friends, we were more like allies, with our sole reason of working together was to find my father, and needless to say, once this was all over, I would be glad to see their backs when they would walk away.

It was often good to get away from the battle field every once and a while and I would often teleport myself down to Leawood where Dex and I would walk around town, or stroll in the woods, enjoying each other's company and the short lived peace that came after a battle well fought and won. Plus it was nice to get away from the never ending vastness of space and walk down streets that ended and look up at a clear blue sky, green leaves and grass, feel the wind in my hair and on my face and feel the warm and golden sun on my body. The coldness that came with having traveling through space for what felt like years instead of a few months seemed to have seeped into every pore of my body, which would remind me of the coldness of Zedd's dungeon or throne room.I leaned my head against Dex's shoulder and closed my eyes for a bit, wishing that I could remain here on Earth with the man that I loved, to enjoy everything that I took for granted, wishing that I didn't have to go back to the cold vastness that was space and continue the, seemingly never ending, and frustrating search for dad. I gave a sigh, and forced myself to forget my troubles and focused on Dex and the scenery before me. A while later the two of us were sitting on a bench just looking out over the water of the Leawood Bay. As the wind that was coming out of the water cooled my face, the smell of the salt water brought back memories of my friends and I running all over the beach in Angel Grove, laughing and playing, without a care in the world. _I hope that things can be that way again. _Dex's voice broke into my thoughts.  
"It sounds like this Zhane likes you Amy." I turned to him surprised. Whenever I teleported to Leawood, I would tell him about TJ and the others progress from rookies to full Rangers. Now that Zhane had joined the team, I had expressed my concerns to him about what new trouble would come along with a new team mate. He had been sympathetic and concerned about the ever growing danger and had made me promise that I would call him if I ever needed help. Even though that it would be highly unlikely, I appreciated it all the same. I had told him all about Zhane and how he had taken an interest in me.  
"How did you get that?" I asked.  
"Well, it seems obvious. He tries really hard to impress you, he asks you a lot of questions about your powers, about your life on Earth, about the fact that your half human and have these amazing powers. Amy.....it's obvious that he wants to be more closer than team mates." I stared at him and began to snicker. An angry look come onto his face, he turned and glared at me.  
"Dex that's the most silliest thing I have ever heard. Zhane is just curious because he has never met a half-alien half-human before, not that there's anything special about me. And of course he's curious about my life on Earth, even though we've battled monsters here, most of our battles take place in space." Whenever Zhane would question me on Earth, he would usually ask me about what I liked to do and the places that I liked to go.  
"And my powers, I doubt that there are any Eltarians left in this universe with my kind of power, not to mention my kind of reputation, he's just....fascinated by me that's all."  
"Oh yeah, if he's "fascinated" about all of that why doesn't he try to look you up in DECA's data banks or if he's curious about life on Earth why doesn't he ask Cassie, Carlos or TJ?"  
"I...." _Now that I think about it, most of the questions about life on Earth that Zhane has asked me could have been answered by the others._  
"Tell me something Amy..." said Dex, he was breathing hard, there was a spark in his eyes that I had never seen before.  
"Does he spend most of the time with you?" I thought for as bit.  
"Yeah, he does, he used to spend a lot of time with Andros but after Zhane was caught up in everything he began asking me to train with him."  
"Close contact training?" I shook my head.  
"No, combat training, he had wanted to see the moves that I would preform on the Quantrons, Ecliptor and the others." Dex leapt up and began to pace back and forth in front of me, I followed his movements with my eyes.  
"What about compliments? Has he complimented you after you've blown away an enemy or preformed a move that you've used a thousand times in the battles with Zedd, Gasket, Mondo or Count Dregon?"  
"Yes, he has. But then so have the others. What's this about Dex?" I was getting irritated.  
"Amy...I can't believe that you don't see this." He turned toward me.  
"Zhane is in love with you." I stared at him, then I burst out laughing.  
"In love with me? You're joking right? He can't be in love with me, we barley know each other."  
"Sometimes it can take even less time for two people to fall in love." _Was he talking about us? _I began to think of Zhane, of the questions that he would ask of me, how he always seemed to be ready to compliment me after chasing away Eclpitor or Astronema, who was there with an admiring look on his face and a familiar look in his eye....._oh my god_. My smile faded from my face and I stared up at Dex. I began to remember how Zhane would come to my defense whenever Cassie and I argued, how he would ask me to give him private lessons, mostly related to my powers where we would be in close contact with each other.  
"Why didn't I see it?" He sat down beside me.  
"You were distracted and completely set on searching for Zordon, so of course you didn't see." He said to me gently. I looked at him, the anger in his eyes had faded.  
"You have to tell him that you're already taken, tell him about us Amy, or you'll end up hurting the guy more if you continue to lead him on." I nodded.  
"I will, thanks Dex. I–it sounds as if you've had some experience with this whole thing." I said after a moment. His eyes grew dark.  
"Yes, I have." He said quietly. After kissing him good bye and promising him that I'll talk to Zhane, the first chance I got. I teleported to the Mega Ship.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After teleporting back to the Mega Ship, I spent a few minutes, pretending to look for Zhane when I was actually rehearsing what I was going to say to him. I had to word it carefully, yet make it truthful, but I had to be careful not to hurt the guy too much. I didn't want to break his heart completely....just crack it a little bit. _This has got to be the most hardest thing I had ever done._ I paused. _Okay, the second hardest thing that I've ever done. The first thing was to learn how to pilot the Bear Zord, and at the same time keep a cool head while being attacked and struggling not to throw up due to all the shaking and rattling._ I smiled as I remembered losing my lunch and breakfast this one time, and all over poor Tentomon's feet. Imagine my embarrassment and shame especially when Blue Elf began luaghing his head off. I had teleported away mortified and crying. Kimberly and Tommy both found me and reassured me that, actually throwing up after all the shaking and rattling that came with fighting in a Zord was perfectly normal and they had reaccounted the times when each and every one of them had managed to hold it in until they could race for the nearest bathroom. Blue Elf had apolized and it turned out, for luaghing at me, had been punished by cleaning up my sick and giving Tentomon a good cleaning. I turned my mind back to the situation at hand. _Zhane,_ _I'm flattered but....uh...actually I'm already taken. _I shook my head. _No, that won't work. You have to break it to him gently, yet firmly. Show that pretty words and endless compliments are not going to win a girl's heart, a girl's heart that has already been taken._ Even if I _do_ break it to him as gently as I could there will be a heart broken Ranger on the team. _Not to mention some uncomfortable after math. _I stopped and took a deep breath and let it out. _The only way to properly do this, is to find Zhane and to tell him straight out. _I nodded to myself. _I guess that's the only way to go._ I continued to limp down the hall thinking that Zhane might be in the SimuDeck putting in some training, but when I got there it was empty. Next I tried the mess hall, only Cassie was there, I ducked out before she could see me and continued my search getting more and more anxious. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do this to Zhane, this was probably the first time that he had ever felt strong emotions for another person in a long time and to be rejected...._this will hurt him but I hope not too badly. I'm pretty sure that he'll find someone else who'll return his feelings for him._ I began to feel hopeful. _Yeah, sooner or later people find someone to love, to completely give their hearts to: Dad with Mom, me and Dex, Billy with Cestria, Adam with Ashley and Rocky with his girl. And people are bound to get their hearts broken, it's painful but it's a part of life. But those people find someone else to love like Tommy. He had his heart broken when Kimberly broke up with him(_Kim told me that as she had written the letter to send to Tommy her heart had been breaking, so in a way _her_ heart had also been broken)_ But Tommy had found another person to love: Kat. _I thought about my parents, I had a feeling that my mother had also broken my father's heart, but he must have forgiven her, I had needed a father to help raise me. _Besides.....she had no idea if dad had been killed or if he had survived the assault on Eltar._ I was in the doorway of the bridge and I saw with a mixture of relief and dread that Zhane was there with Andros. I took a deep breath and limped into the room.

"Hi Zhane, Andros." Both boys turned and said hi. Zhane's eye had lit up at my approach. I cleared my throat, forcing myself not hesitate I asked Zhane if I could talk to him. He nodded.

"Yeah sure."

"I–in private" he nodded again and with a glance at Andros he followed me out of the room and down the hall. He kept pace with me once we were out into the hall and several times brushed his hand against mine. I felt more uncomfortable as we continued down the hall, the ship appeared to have sealed off any and all rooms that would have been used for a private chat, _does DECA know that I'm about to break Zhane's heart? _I glanced up at the ceiling then gave a start as I felt Zhane's hand slip into my own, I turned to him and was about to take my hand away when I saw that he was tugging me into a room, I breathed a sigh then followed him. The room, I realized a bit too late was Zhane's!

"This all right?" he asked me. I swallowed hard as the door closed. _Don't panic._ I took a deep breath and moved away from Zhane, taking my hand out of his. He had turned toward me.

"I'm glad that you asked me to talk....because I.....I want to talk to you as well." He said. My stomach squirmed uncomfortably as we both looked at each other.

"Um Zhane?" I swallowed and took a deep breath, suddenly I wished that I had called Kimberly, she would have told me how to go about this, told me what to say, how to act.

"Zhane...." But he interrupted me.

"Listen I.....uh...well....ever since I first met you....I've....well...." He looked uncomfortable. Finally deciding that it would be better to act his feelings than talk about them, he placed his hands on my shoulders and began to bend his head toward me, slowly I inched my head away from him.

"Zhane? Zhane stop!" He opened his eyes, confusion written on his face.

"What is it? I thought...?" I took a deep breath, heart pounding with a mixture of fear and unease.

"Zhane I–I'm sorry. It's just that..." I held up my hand with my engagement ring on.

"There's someone else." Zhane's eyes widened as he looked at my ring and he took a step back, his arms fell slack at his sides. I stayed where I was, thinking that it wouldn't be wise to make a move toward him.

"Zhane I–I'm very sorry. I–It's just that all this time I–I thought that all of those questions that you asked where because you were curious about me, I didn't know that you had taken an _interest _in me." I hated the look on his face. But I plunged on.

"I was so focused on finding my father and protecting Andros, you and the others that I had no idea that....." I faltered not sure if he was even listening anymore. I took a deep breath and took a step toward him.

"Zhane...." But he had turned his back on me. I stopped and stared at him in silence for a bit. Finally he turned around to face me, his eyes were filled with hurt. It took him a moment to regain his voice.

"A–are you happy with.....?" I cocked my head a bit at the odd question. But answered truthfully.

"Yes, I–I'm happy with him." I took a deep breath.

"Zhane, I'm really, very sorry. I had no idea that you felt this way.....And I'm really sorry that I've been leading you on, I never meant to hurt you honestly I didn't." He took a step toward me, I stood my ground even though I was afraid that he would strike me. _I think I would deserve it._ Instead he took a deep breath, at the same time closed his eyes and when he opened them he exhaled. What he said next caught me by surprise.

"Well, I'm glad that you're happy with your guy Amy, I just wish that.....you know..." he averted his eyes away from me I reached out a hand toward him.

"Hey, I'm sure you'll find someone some day, my mom was always telling me that you may plan each and every direction that your life is going to take but the thing that you don't plan, the thing that you won't see until the very last second...is falling in love." Zhane looked back at me. He smiled and the hurt in his eyes faded after a moment.

"Thanks Amy." He gave me a small smile.

"No problem Zhane. Are you sure that you're okay? I mean I really didn't mean to....." I said after a pause. But he waved me away.

"Yeah, I'm okay, er, I will be in due time if you want to know the truth." I breathed a sigh of relief as we went out into the hall and back toward the bridge. I was relieved that Zhane was okay with this, that he was taking this so well...._on the surface he seems fine, but what about underneath_? Zhane went back on to the bridge and for a few moments I stood in the doorway, then turning I limped toward my room, sat down on my bed, pulled out my mini-computer and began to type to Dex. A while later Dex answered, happy that I had cleared the air between Zhane and I, though he was also sympathetic with Zhane.

**You should leave him be for a couple of days, try not to be in the same room with him for too long okay?** **This should resolve itself in a few days or so, a broken heart takes time to mend. Er that's what I've always heard from the television and from Mom and Dad. **I typed back.

**Okay, will do Dex and thanks. Say hello to Molly and Albee for me.**

**Will do.**__

Signing off I set down my computer and stretched my myself, curling my toes I let out a sigh. I was a bit worried about Zhane, but if he was as strong as Andros kept telling the rest of us, then he should be able to get past this_. _I felt bad for breaking his heart and even though I wish that I could fix it somehow, I knew that there wasn't anything that I could really do. I got up and began to make my way to the mess hall thinking that some ice cream will cheer me up. Coming out of the mess hall, after a while later I sighed to myself happily. _Nothing like ice cream to lift up the spirits a little._ Cassie was walking down the hall toward me, I smiled at her and gave her a friendly hello, but she didn't returned my greeting. Instead with a angry look on her face, she reached out, grabbed my arm and began to drag me back the way she had come.

"Hey! Cassie! What's the deal?" I stumbled as she continued to march and I struggled to keep up. We marched toward the bridge, Cassie released me and went to stand beside Andros, TJ, Carlos and Zhane. I glanced at all of them and was surprised that they were all glaring at me, all except for Zhane. He hadn't looked up when I had entered instead he kept his eyes to the floor. I looked at all of them.

"What's up?" I asked. Cassie's eyes flashed and so did Andros's. He took a step toward me.

"Amy, why didn't you tell Zhane sooner that you had a boyfriend? W–Why didn't you tell the rest of us?" I looked at him in surprise. _How did they.....? _I glared up at the ceiling.

"DECA! Were you eaves dropping on our conversation?" I demanded angrily.

"DECA didn't eaves drop. Zhane told me." said Andros. I stared at Andros, then it hit me. _He must have seen the pain on Zhane's face and asked what was wrong and Zhane told him._ I opened my mouth to explain. But Cassie interrupted me.

"Why did you keep it a secret? I'm telling you right now Amy Karmer I'm getting sick to death of your secrets."

"Okay, first off I didn't keep my fiancee a secret." I snapped back. Zhane's head shot up and the others were staring at me, mouths dropped open.

"Fiancee!" shouted six voices. I winced. _Heh heh....wrong thing to say Karmer. _I took a deep breath.

"Yes, fiancee. He...well...we plan to getting married as soon as there is peace in the galaxy." I shifted from foot to foot. This was met by silence.

"Why did you keep this from us? Were you ever going to tell us?" demanded Carlos. Inwardly I flinched, remembering I had shouted the exact same thing(or close to it) to my father. I took a deep breath.

"The reason that I didn't tell you guys was because...." I tried to think of a reason that would satisfy them.

"Well...because....look I know that right now, it seems really important for you guys to know that I'm engaged, but to me......it....it's not a.....high priority. And truthfully I didn't think you guys would find out. Besides with everything that's happened it....it was pushed to the back of my mind so....can you really blame me?" I looked at all of them, wondering if any of them understood. Andros had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I think I understand." he said at last. All heads turned toward him.

"It's like when you guys found out that I had a sister," he glanced at Carlos.

"Or when I had to tell you about Zhane, I thought that I would be able to keep them a secret...never expecting for you guys to find out about them but..." He spread out his hands and gave a shrug of his shoulders. I breathed a sigh and nodded toward Andros.

After the initial shock faded everyone began to crowd around me and began to ask about "my fiance" I told them as much as I could without mentioning Dex's name or that he was a prince(that would have been way too obvious if they preformed research on the planet Edenio. Hey, you never know).

A few weeks later while we were following yet another lead on my dad and ended up walking into an ambush. Astronema made one of her rare appearances on the battle , Carlos, Cassie, Zhane and I were fighting off Ecliptor, Darkonda and an army of Quantrons(they were being taken care of by yours truly) while Andros was battling Astronema. The army of Quantrons had me completely surrounded. I smirked underneath my mask. _Heh, no problem._ I began to spin rapidly, throwing up dust and blinding all of the Quantrons. As soon as I had a nice thick cloud up and swirling around, I stopped, concentrated and sent the ground in which the Quantrons were standing on, to fly up from underneath them. I looked up at all of them as they flew into the air. They fell to the ground in a series of thumps and crashes. _That takes care of that._ As the Quantrons staggered to their feet and took off. I turned and raced toward Andros's aid. He was struck hard on the chest and blasted away by Astronema's staff, I leapt over him and my sword flashed out, Astronema gave a yelp as I struck her. She turned her head toward me as I landed behind her, blood drip from a cut on her cheek. She wiped at her cheek and stared at her hand, lowering it, she fully turned and raced at me, her staff raised. For a brief second I pictured Lord Zedd during our last battle. Unsheathing my sword I morphed and flew at her, she froze for a second then continued the charge, I materialized as the distance closed between us. She was yelling a battle cry as we passed each other, sparks of energy flew through the air. I stood up a bit and relaxed my grip on my sword, while behind me Astronema fell to her knees uttering a moan. Ecliptor turned.

"Empress!" He shouted, throwing off TJ and racing at me, eyes blazing. Smoothly I stepped to one side, Ecliptor slid to a halt, swung himself around and continued to charge, at the same time making a double appear.

"You're finished!" _So what else is new?_ I leapt into the air preforming a cork screw spin to dodge the swords that were slashing at me, then I dove straight down and grabbed one of the Ecliptor's around the waist. He gave out a yell as he struggled and slashed at me. I let out grunts of pain as his sword connected with my back. I spun on one foot then raced back at the other Ecliptor. I began to send energy through my body and into the Ecliptor that I had.

"W–What are you doing? This power..." I heard him breath. _Gotta time this just right._ I thought as I flew at the other Ecliptor, I was mere feet from him when I sent the one that I had flying, I flew backward out of range of the explosion, when a bit of the smoke cleared there was only one Ecliptor and he was on the ground flat on his back. _Nice._ Suddenly I let out a scream as my back suddenly lit up as though someone was setting it on fire, I threw up a shield and spun to face my assailant. Astronema! She was staring at me as she continued the attack even though it was pointless now.

"What are you?"

"Right now I am pissed off at you and your army lady!" I shot forward yelling My sword glowed with power. At the last second though she vanished. _Huh. Even Lord Zedd and Goldar put up a better fight than her._ I thought as I touched ground once again and looked around. _I really have to stop doing that._ Andros was struggling to his feet, I sheathed my sword and began to limp toward him, ignoring Ecliptor as he began to stir. Darkonda was still standing, the other Rangrs were on the ground near him. He turned toward Andros and I as I healed Andros and helped him up to a semi standing position.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Look out!" Andros tried to push me out of the way but only succeeded in giving me a bit of a nudge, I turned. Ecliptor and Darkonda were both racing at us. I merely looked at them as they began to close the distance between us. Darkonda warped, I spun and at the same time shot out my fist. I felt a thud and Darkonda appeared, he had an astonished look on his face as he fell back and landed with a thud on the ground. I spun toward Ecliptor, morphed and raced at him as soon as I had enfolded Ecliptor into my morphed state. I turned and shot toward Darkonda who was raising his sword to finish off Andros. Darkonda gave out a yelp and tried to fight me off but soon he had also turned silver. I heard Andros cry out as I shot into the air and began to circle around and around, faster and faster, everyone was on their feet and gazing upward as the blob that was Darkonda, Ecliptor and I materialized to show that I was gripping the both of them by the ankle and swinging them around and around.

"This is where you get off!" I grunted as I released them, they both yelled as they flew through the air. They either teleported or warped away. I lowered myself until I touched ground again, I faced my team mates breathing hard. After a couple of breaths I managed to finally slow down my heart rate. Limping over to the others and healing them, I murmured "thanks" and "no problem" as my team mates praised me and thanked me for getting rid of Astronema and her gang.

"Come on." I said with a weary sigh.

"Let's get back to the Mega Ship and see if we can pick up anything of dad's trail." _Though I doubt it._ My team mates began to follow me except for Zhane, who was glaring at me with an almost angry expression.

"What?" I asked him. But he shook his head and turned away. I looked at him for a few minutes, lately he had been acting weird, especially if one of us mentioned Astronema. He would usually avert his eyes and shift around uneasily and up until a couple of weeks ago he acted that way around me. Fortunately though as the weeks had gone on he began to act more and more like his old self. I shrugged my shoulders and began to limp forward again.

"Hey, what's that?" I heard Cassie say. We all turned and looked in the direction to where she was pointing. In the distance we could see what looked like a large black cloud and , if I'm not mistaken, we also heard a sound coming from the cloud.

"What is that?" said TJ. I shook my head unable to answer.

"Is it just me? Or is that cloud getting more closer?" said Carlos. There was a hint of nervousness in his voice. I glanced at him, turning back to the cloud I had to agree. The cloud did _seem_ to be betting closer.

"Andros, Zhane do you get space storms out here?" I asked. The two boys gave me bewildered looks then glanced at each other.

"No." They both said. I looked again at the cloud, then once again turned and began to limp away but I froze when I heard Cassie say

"Hey, do you guys hear....cawing?" The others murmured agreement. I had slowly turned toward the "cloud" and was staring at it, a growing sense of horror going through me.

"Everyone get to the Mega Ship." I said in a voice that shook. But they remained where they were as through transfixed to the ground and continued to stare at the dark mass that was coming closer and closer.

"Get to the Mega Ship." We could all hear that the noise was indeed cawing.

"GET TO THE MEGA SHIP NOW!" I screamed, that seemed to snap everyone out of their hypnosis. All of us began to run toward the ship but we had only gone a few feet before the army of Tengu Warriors and Goldar descended on us.


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's the finished version**

Chapter 14

The Tengu Warriors swooped down on us and began to attack.

"What are these things?" shouted Zhane and Andros as they tried to slash at the Tengu with their weapons. The Tengu dodged, danced away, or became airborne cackling as they dive-bombed on all of us. I began to swing my sword wildly, trying to protect the others and at the same time look for an opening to the Mega Ship. Before I could do more than start summoning my power I heard a scream behind me, turning around fast I saw Cassie being pulled into the air by two Tengu! She was struggling and kicking her feet while the Tengu took her higher and higher! Andros had also turned.

"Cassie! Let her go!" He began to run toward her, but was dive-bombed by several Tengus, and shoved to the ground. I had started to go to Cassie's aid but I saw that Andros was being practically torn apart by the Tengu, a few feet from us Carlos was being kicked and beaten, TJ was being strangled, Zhane was on the ground, shouting and trying to fight off the Tengu that had surrounded him. I looked at all of them wondering if I would have time to save all of them and still be able to save Cassie. I heard Cassie let out a shriek of terror, I heard the others give out yells of pain. _Who do I save first?_ _Can I save them all at the same time? Heh, with these odds not likely._ _But I've got to try. _I sent energy flowing through my right hand, while dealing a few tornado kicks and high kicks I took out several attacking Tengu. Aiming a well timed high kick to another dive bombing Tengu Warrior, who was sent spinning into one of it's fellows, I quickly brought my fist down hard onto the ground. Immediately the ground began to shake as though an earthquake was taking place. The Tengu, who were on the ground, were thrown off their feet. Soon the earthquake stopped. The Rangers that were lying on their backs sprang to their feet.

"EVERYONE GET TO THE MEGA SHIP AND TAKE OFF NOW!" I screamed. TJ, Carlos and Zhane began to run but Andros remain where he was.

"What about Cassie?"

"Andros! Get your Ranger butt to the Ship! I'll save her. Don't worry." But Andros was already fighting Tengus left and right trying to get to Cassie, who was being dangled just out of his reach. He took out his Blaster and took aim but he faltered as the Tengus kept moving her into his line of vision. _No! I might hit Cassie! _He lowered the weapon slightly and five Tengus pounced on him.

"Andros!" I shouted I started to rush toward him but I saw the others had stopped in their tracks, had turned and were now racing at the Tengu that had Andros pinned down.

"Go get Cassie. We'll take care of these guys." shouted TJ, I hesitated. There was no way that these guys could possibly take care of the Tengu by themselves, I started to go toward them but stopped when Cassie let out a shriek. I turned and saw the Tengu that had her, rise high into the air and release! Cassie screamed as she plummeted toward the ground. TJ Carlos, Andros and I cried out and shot forward intending to reach her and catch her before she hit the ground. But the two Tengu swooped down, and grabbed her, cackling as they flew upward again with their prisoner. _By the sound of their laughter, it's as if their playing a game. _A gasp suddenly escaped my mouth. _They are playing a game, with us as well as with Cassie. Time to put an end to it. Right now!_ I shot upward as Andros and the others continued to battle the Tengu on the ground. A few Tengu took off into the air after me began to attack when they caught up, but a high level Power Blast blew them all backward. Without slowing down, I continued upward, but the Tengu must have seen me, for they began to fly higher and higher. I saw Cassie look down, she shouted my name. I stopped for a second, trying to think of how I was going to save her. _They_ _could just as easily drop her just as I'm going ro reach her then attack me or distract me. Or they could easily kill her before I could reach them. _I was wasting time trying to think up a plan and the Tengu knew it. For they let Cassie drop for a few seconds then grabbed her again, all the while they were cackling when I had failed to react and pull her toward me with my powers. I gritted my teeth and struggled to think. Then it hit me. I shot upward, morphed into a puddle of liquid and zoomed toward the Tengu and their prisoner. They saw me. Cassie began to struggle more harder but she stopped as the Tengu began to dive straight toward the ground. Cassie, her hair flying behind her like a black banner, her head leaned back by the force of the wind, let out a scream as she saw the ground coming toward her. I raced after them, the Tengu stopped short a few feet from the ground and pulled back, Cassie's head was thrown forward by the force of the stop, but I wasn't fast enough and plowed hard into the ground, sending up a huge dust cloud.  
"Amy!" Shouted Cassie, she tried to see through the dust that was rising from the ground. But the dust was thick, she blinked several times to clear her eyes all the while searching for me. _No one could have survived that._ The Tengu, thinking that I had surely been flatten began to laugh. But their laughter was short lived when the dust began to swirl all on its own accord, before they could even blink the swirling mass of dust had enfolded the Tengu and Cassie. All three of them coughed and choked, their eyes were streaming with tears as they struggled to clear their vision. The Tengu heard Cassie cry out, they felt something shift between their fingers, thinking that they had dropped Cassie to her death, they began to laugh but no sooner had they opened their mouths then they began choking again. Suddenly they began to notice that their vision was clearing, and they were no longer choking. The dust cloud had been blown away by the wind. The two Tengu looked at each other, but then they noticed that I was floating between them with both arms out, hands pointed at them.  
"Energy Blast!" I shouted. The Tengu let out screams as they were sent hurtling through the air. I grinned to myself as I looked down at my fighting comrades. I had managed to teleport Cassie to the Mega Ship and had taken her position between the Tengu. Andros, I saw, was frantically looking for her up in the sky and calling out for her. I shouted down at him.  
"Andros, Cassie is in the Mega Ship, now will you please get all of your Ranger butts in there?" . After dealing the Tengu a few more blows, the others did as I told them, I flew right above them, blasting at any Tengu that came too close and keeping an eye out for Goldar. _Where is he? He was with the Tengu when they attacked us but he didn't join in the fight. _The Mega Ship was only a mile off. We all heard it at the same time, a deep rumbling that seemed to be coming from underneath the ground. I began to shout at my team mates to get the lead out. They began to run faster, trying to outpace the rumbling that grew louder and louder. Whatever it was, my team mates were soon going to be caught up in it. I morphed into liquid.  
"Brace yourselves!" I shouted as I swooped down, and turned my team mates into liquid as well, all of them let out screams or cried out in surprise. We shot forward, outpacing the rumbling noise but I soon began to notice that it had soon caught up with us. As I struggled to move faster I noticed that all of the Tegu Warriors had seemingly vanished.  
"Where are those birds?" asked Zhane. I didn't answer, instead I focused hard on my destination_. Please let us make it! _I prayed. Suddenly I noticed with a thrill of fear and surprise that the rumbling sound.....seemed to be right beside us.! Using my ears, I judged that it was keeping up with us. I began to get the strange feeling that whatever it was, it was toying with us. Even though I wanted to stop and confront it, I couldn't put the others in any more danger. _First off, I have to get them away from this thing. _I saw the outline of the Mega Ship, I began to put an extra burst of speed, when two things happened at once. Whatever that was following us, caught up and made the ground from underneath us exploded, hurtling us into the air. We became separated and resumed our human form, the Tegu reappeared suddenly and swooped down, catching my team mates. I managed to barley catch myself, but before I could clear my head I was literally swept up in a tornado of dust, gravel and rock sized boulders that kept slamming into me. I struggled to push everything away and get to my team mates, but I had lost all sense of direction, I didn't know which way was up or down. I heard a crackling sound up from above me. _That sounds like lightning._ Was my last thought before the lighting shot down from above and combined with the tornado. I merely caught a glimpse of it before it slammed into me.

I'm not sure how long I was out, but I did become slightly conscious and was aware of_ a_poundingsensation in my head.. Sitting up groggily I placed one hand on my forehead, soon the pounding eased and faded. My hand slid down my throat, feeling for the chain of my locket. Panic shot through me when I didn't feel my locket resting on my chest. I looked around frantically, becoming slightly surprised to find myself on a bed. Curiosity overcame my search for my locket and I gazed around the room that I was in. From the looks of it, the room itself was practically bare of any furnishings that belonged to the owner. Torches that hung along the walls cast a dim light, yet I was able to make out several weapons which hung on the walls, a mirror and a table, but I could't make out was on it. I also noticed that I was no longer in my Ranger suit. Looking down at myself, half expecting to see my civilian clothes on my body and I received a slight shock when I saw, instead, a dark dress. _What the?_ I jumped when I heard a voice say.

"Ah, you're awake." Goldar was standing in the doorway, his armor blended so well with the darkness of the room that I hadn't noticed him.

"You know after an attack like that, any normal human would have died right there on the spot. But not you." He looked at me admiringly.

"Although it's not really surprising, given what you are. Makes me wish that there were more of you. It would make this particular war more interesting."

"Where's my father? I know that you're the one that told Dark Specter about him, I also know that you're the one that unleashed that attack on Edenio as a distraction. And I know that you're the one that put him back into that...that prison that he just barely escaped from." I snarled finally finding my voice. He was silent for a moment.

"Funny, you're not asking about Dimitria." I jerked my head to one side as though flicking away an irksome fly.

"Yes, it was I that told Dark Specter about the whereabouts of Zordon, I was actually surprised at how easily it all went down, Zordon was certainly surprised when he saw me. Although he did put up quite a fight." He chuckled. Anger shot through me.

"But enough about that," he said as he lifted up the staff and pointed it at me, I cried out as pain shot through me and I was lifted into the air. I struggled but I found, to my horror, that I couldn't move! Other than feeling paralyzed, I also felt weak. _Did Goldar drain me of my power? _Panic went through me. As if reading my thoughts, Goldar, after spreading his wings and flapping towards me, shook his head.

"As much as I would _like _to drain you of your powers, I cannot, I can only drain you of your physical energy." I didn't answer, but a sense of relief went through me that none of my power had been taken, but it was short lived when Goldar appeared in front of me. His eyes moved from my face and down my body, I had the unnerving feeling that he was checking me out. Then he said in a low voice.

"While I was rebuilding the Tegu Warrior army and repairing my armor, I found myself thinking of you more and more, at first I thought it was based on my hatred of you for betraying Lord Zedd and bringing about his downfall.....but it turned out to be something else.....something entirely different. On my visits to Angel Grove I couldn't help but notice how powerful you've become.......as well as beautiful." A feeling of disgusted horror went through me. I began to struggle frantically, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move. Nor could I stop Goldar from lifting his hand, putting it underneath my chin, drawing my face close to him and kissing me. After what seemed like a disgustedly long time, he released me. I turned my head away and spat. He laughed while he lowered me back onto the bed and he touched the floor. He ran his hand through my hair, I jerked my head away and glared at him.

"Now, since you're going to be here a while, I'm sure you're curious about your surroundings." Actually wanting to know where I was, was the last thing on my mind. What I really wanted him to talk about was where Dad was being held. I started to speak but then I paused. _No, he'll probably lie to me or refuse to tell me where Dad is. He'll probably do that out of enjoyment of seeing me in pain._ Anger rose within me, but I managed to suppress it a bit. _Get him to talk about his plans, maybe he'll drop hints about Dad. _I took a deep breath vaguely speculating the strangeness of the situation. _I never had a full conversation with Goldar before._

"Yes, I an wondering. Something about this place is familiar to me." I looked around the room. Goldar, who had settled himself beside me on the bed and kept running his hand up and down my arm, grinned at me.

"It should be, we are on the moon." I stiffened. Then spoke forcing my voice to remain steady.

"So, we're in Zedd's palace?" Goldar nodded.

"I did some redecorating so now it suits its new lord, but I kept some of the old furnishings, makes it feel more like home." I nodded.

"I see." I shifted my body away from him ever so slightly, luckily he didn't notice. I took another look around the room and suddenly occurred to me to compliment him. _Compliments usually help to get a guy to talk about himself and make him more comfortable._ I heard Kimberly say in my head. _Well, I do need to keep him talking and what better way is there?_ I looked around the room again, even though I really didn't see anything different, despite the darkness and my prolong absence, I turned to him and said.

"I like it, it has a dark and gloomy feel to it." Mild surprise appeared on his face, he quickly recovered.

"Glad you feel that way, I added a little bit of extra gloom and coldness to all the rooms, to represent the emptiness of not having my master and mistress." He glared down at me and his hand tighten on my arm, I winced slightly. After a moment he loosened his grip and went back to running his hand up and down my arm and I relaxed slightly. I took a breath, I had to learn what had become of the others. _Should be easy enough, he doesn't see the rookies as a threat._

"My team mates. Can you tell me what became of them?" He looked dissimisive.

"Oh, them. You don't have to worry, my Tengu Warriors are taking care of them. I'm surprised that they've lasted this long if you want to know the truth. On Earth they weren't much of a challenge, in fact they were a bit of a joke between the Tengu and myself." Anger went through me. _TJ and the others have come a long way from their rookie days._

"Yeah, I know that to you, my friends and I were more to your liking, we posed more a challenge." He glanced at me and nodded in agreement.

"I almost miss the good old days." _The good old days? _I didn't say this out loud, only nodded.

"Yeah, I sometimes wished that Tommy and the others had stayed, especially Rocky. After seeing Justin and the after effects of you've done to him, I wasn't really sure if TJ, Cassie and Carlos would be able to handle being Rangers, I mean they were pretty freaked when Justin had described what you showed him....but...they were rookies....they had barely an idea of what they were signing up for." Goldar nodded in agreement.

"Zordon and Tommy, at one point, must have regretted their decision." _Here's my chance. _I licked my lips and took a breath.

"Speaking of my father......" I glanced up at him.

"I'm wondering how you and Dark Specter are keeping him off of our radar....I mean a powerful wizard like my dad has got to be sending out an S.O.S and yet somehow...you must be preventing the signal from reaching anyone."

"Not really, since he's between two dimensions, it's hard to do much of anything, except keeping himself from slipping into either dimension and from going completely insane. Can you imagine spending years in a prison with no means of escape whatsoever?" _To be freed and shoved back in again?_ I thought angrily.

"Where is he right now?" I asked almost casually, my heart was beating hard. My first thought was that Goldar was going to say that Dad was here in the palace. But if he did, then how was I going to save him? I could barley move as it is. He didn't answer merely, turned his head and looked at me, at first I thought that he had seen through my ploy. But instead he only smiled and said

"I have no influence over where Zordon is taken and kept, I merely told Dark Spector where he was located and made Zordon more easier to capture. You're probably wondering: Why did I help capture Zordon only to have nothing to do with his torture? The answer is simple. To really torture someone you have to kidnap the person that they really care about and leave them with no clues or word as to their whereabouts. They'll be driven practically insane trying to locate the kidnaped person, they're feel guilty that they should have done something, anything to prevent this, because they _knew_! They knew that something like this was going to happen! They knew and they didn't do a single thing! So at the same time that Zordon is being tortured right now by having his energy drained by Dark Specter and Astronema, _you_ are also being tortured by not knowing where your father is!" Goldar's eyes glowed and a grin lit up his face. I glared at him feeling powerful rage and hatred course through me. _If only I could move....then I could...._ I let out a gasp as he wrapped a hand around my throat, as he leaned his face toward mine his hand tightened.

"Dark Specter and the rest of them can have Zordon, it's you that I have always wanted." His face became a mask of hatred. I began to gasp for air.

"You're the one that betrayed us and joined those brats! You're the one that used the knowledge that you've gained against us! You're the one that killed my master. Most of all you of all people managed, by some sort of.....hocus pocus...or whatever... to returned from the dead when Zedd, Rito Revolto and I drained you of both physical energy and the power that you have in your locket until you were reduced to nothing more than a mere shell, and yet you managed to come back! Healed of all your wounds and more powerful than before!" I shut my eyes as he squeezed by throat more tighter, I began to claw at his hand but with his other hand he grabbed both of my wrists and held them tightly.

"How? How is it that, time and again, when we've tried to break you, you've come back more stronger than ever? What kind of power is it that you possess that allows you to be more stronger than Zedd or I? You, a mere half-ling! Was it that same power that resurrected you when we killed you all those years ago? Huh? Was it?" He shouted giving me a little shake. I twisted my head from side to side, struggling to get a bit of breath in my body, my head was swimming, everything was growing fuzzy and dark. _Air....I need....._ He glared down at me, then slowly his expression and his grip on my throat relaxed, as well as on my wrists. I began to cough and took great gulps of air, Goldar ran a hand through my hair then said in a low voice.

"Under....persuasion....you would never tell me, I know you wouldn't you're too strong, you would never talk....but perhaps if placed underneath a spell you might." He stood up, summoned his staff and aimed it at me.

"No." I croaked. I tried to roll off the bed, to try to get away but I was too weak to do much of anything except watch, with growing terror as the staff glowed with a spell. _How am I going to be able to fight off this spell?_ _Better yet, if placed underneath, how am I going to stop myself from telling Goldar about Aisha's spirit, that she and my mother were the ones that gave me the power to come back, stronger than before? _A sickening thought entered my mind. _What if, after I tell Goldar what he wants to know, what if he....doesn't take the spell off of me? What if he keeps me underneath the spell and turns me into that horrible monster that I used to be?_ Tears began to stream down my face as I pictured myself, as the monster that took Aisha's life, attacking my friends, TJ and the others and the innocent people of Angel Grove. _No....I don't want that! I don't want any more innocent blood on my hands! Help me! Anybody! _From apparently out of nowhere a blue mass appeared in front of Goldar and began to attack him, Goldar let out a yell as he began to try to fight off the mass, the staff no longer glowed, the spell had been interrupted.

"Dex!" I shouted happily as I watched Goldar retreat a few dozen steps, his head snapped back as through he had been punched and he slumped against the wall and slid to the floor. The mass that was Dex swopped down, scooped me up and away we went.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

We arrived in the woods on the outskirts of Angel Grove. Dex resumed his form and set me down gently onto the ground. I leaned heavily against him. The other Rangers crowded around me, I looked at all of them, surprised that they were here. I turned to Dex.

"You saved them from the Tengu?" I asked. He nodded.

"I sensed that you were in danger, I went to the planet that you were on and saw what was happening. I helped out the Rangers drive the Tengu away. They didn't really see who had taken you but I had a pretty good idea." I stared at him. _How could he have known?_

"How did you know that Goldar had taken me to the moon, to Zedd's palace?" I asked in wonder, to my surprise Dex shrugged his shoulders.

"A hunch actually. I really didn't want to waste time roaming the galaxy looking for you, so I just thought of the last place you were taken to the last time you've been captured. A good thing too, a few more minutes...."

"Thank you D–Masked Rider." I said to him. Looking at me full in the face, he said softly.

"I'm glad that you're safe." I rested my head on his chest, thankful that it was Dex that had rescued me.

"Why are you in that dress?" Asked Carlos suddenly. I looked down at myself, I had completely forgotten about the dress. Dex took a step back and looked. I couldn't see underneath his mask but I knew that his eyes had widen in surprise. I hesitated, for it had just entered my mind that while I had been unconscious Goldar could have undressed me himself and...... Bile rose in my throat and I felt wholly unclean. Thankfully Dex changed the subject.

"What happened? Goldar didn't steal any of your power did he?" He asked. I could tell that he wanted to ask some questions about what had went on in the palace, why was I in the dress, but I didn't want to tell him. I shook my head.

"No, he couldn't. He stole my physical energy, I couldn't move...." I shuddered, still feeling the taste of Goldar on my lips. Dex wrapped an arm around me and held me tightly.

"Wait...what do you mean? Are you telling me that Amy's power can be stolen?" asked Andros in surprise. The others began to mutter to themselves. I turned to him and at the same time my legs gave out from under me, Dex picked me up and set me down on a fallen tree, he sat down beside me but kept an arm around my waist. I leaned against him grateful that he had rescued me, grateful that I was no longer in that cold and dark room.... I straighten up a bit and answered Andros.

"In the old days that was possible, but now, since I've become stronger there is no chance of that." I said firmly, Dex nodded his head in agreement. I leaned my head against him, feeling safe as long as the two of us were sitting on this tree together. My eyes snapped opened when one of my team mates shuffled their feet and cleared their throats. I opened my mouth to make the introductions but Dex beat me to it.

"It's okay Amy, after the battle with the Tengu, I introduced myself and told Andros to take TJ and the others and wait for me right here while I went to go and rescue you." I turned my head to my team mates and nodded my head at them, silently thanking them for listening to Dex.

"So, did Goldar tell you of anything new? About the whereabouts of Zordon?" Dex asked. I shook my head.

"What he did tell me though was that my hunch had been correct along. He was the one behind the attack on Edenio."

"Endenio?" TJ asked. Dex turned toward him.

"My home planet."

"Ah." The others said. I continued.

"He did tell me a couple of things though, the reason Dad hasn't been able to send out an SOS or leave us clues or anything is because he can't. He's using most of his power to prevent himself from falling into either dimensions that he's trapped between. " I sagged a bit, putting one hand on my forehead.All of this time I had thought that Dad was the most powerful person in the universe, regardless of being trapped in a tube....it was a real blow to find out that he was only powerful _outside the tube_. But what really made me sick was that it was _my power_..._my stolen power_ that put Dad back into that prison again. _Dad had only been out of that prison for only a short amount of time_, _he must have relished his freedom and to be put back in there...._

"You alright?" asked Carlos. I stared at the ground not answering, it was a while before I spoke again.

"Goldar also told me that Dark Specter and Astronema are the ones that are hiding Dad, Goldar only wanted to entrap him in that damn tube again. He knew that Dad would be helpless in there!" _Should have known that Goldar wouldn't really tell me anything. Should have known that the only reason he's doing all of this to just torture me._

"They could be anywhere right now!"

"We'll find him, and we'll set him free. You have to believe that Amy, I'll help you in every way and any way I can." Dex said softly. I let out a sigh half bleak, half reassured.

"I hope we can Masked Rider, I hope we can." I struggled to my feet and nearly fell over again, The others took several steps toward me. But it was Dex who caught me.

"Easy, easy, you're still weak. Come on, I gotcha ya." Andros turned away and called to A-6 to land the Mega Ship near our location. All of us watched silently as the Ship appeared, landed and the hatch opened. Dex carried me inside, the others followed.

"Someone get Amy something to eat." called Dex. Zhane dashed off as we entered the bridge and I was seated in one of the chairs. Dex handed me back my locket, and my Astro Morpher. My locket felt heavy in my hand, it slipped and fell to the floor. Dex bent to pick it up, as our eyes met, I turned my face away. I was suddenly ashamed at how weak I was. Putting the locket around my neck he tried to give me an encouraging smile, one that I didn't return. He let out a sigh, then stood up.

"If I know Goldar, he'll probably retaliate, Angel Grove...he'll attack there." I nodded in agreement. Andros turned to A-6.

"Alpha preform a sweep of the city of Angel Grove, alert us if Goldar or any of those...." he turned toward Dex again.

"What were those birds called again?"

"Tengu Warriors." Dex and I said at the same time. At that moment Zhane jogged into the bridge with a plateful of food. Dex took the plate and knelt down in front of me and began to spoon feed me.

"Masked Rider," I said irritably. "Goldar may have stolen all of my energy I can still feed myself ya know." Dex shook his head.

"You could barely stand up on your own two feet, you nearly fell over when you turned to talk to Andros. I'd say that you need a little help." I let out a sigh as Dex spoon fed me some soup. Embarrassment mixed with love went through me. But what he said next sent a surge of panic.

"Andros, if Goldar does appear I'll help you fight him...."

"What? D–Masked Rider you don't need to do that. You go back to your city, _fight your own_ baddie and I'll help Andros fight Goldar and the Tengu." He shook his head.

"Amy, please don't argue with me. You are going to stay here. You are going to keep eating until you regain your strength."

"I will do no such thing and you know it. I've got two feet, I _can _fight!" I snapped. I began to struggle to my feet. _I'll pound Goldar into the ground for kissing me_, _for touching me, for putting this dress on me!_ I only managed to wriggle in my chair a bit, then I let out a sigh. I was still very weak, it would be a full couple of hours before I had gotten my full strength back. I hated to admit it to myself but. I would have to stay here.I nodded. "Okay, okay I'll stay here and do as you say." I paused then yelled irritably

"But I won't like it!" TJ and the others exchanged amused looks, Dex chuckled softly to himself as he continued to spoon feed me.

"Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is for me?" I could tell that Dex was smiling underneath his mask.

"I wouldn't call it embarrassing Ames, I...would call it practice." I stared at him incredulously.

"Practice?"

"For the future." he said quietly. It took me a moment to figure out what he was saying. _A family._ Instantly my mind filled with images of Dex and I spoon feeding our children. I smiled at the picture. We all jumped or let out shrieks as the alarm rang. Dex leaped to his feet and looked toward Andros, who was at the controls.

"Goldar and Tengu Warriors." Dex nodded. Suddenly A-6 cried out.

"Their attacking in two places at once! Downtown and uptown Angel Grove." A wave of relief went through me, I had felt sure that Goldar would have gone to wherever Dad was and possibly torture him badly, and _allow for word of the torture _to reach my ears.

"With the number of his army, this is an easy feat." Dex murmured. I looked up at him, a sudden thought occurred to me.

"He not only stole my energy so I could be more easily captured, but he also stole it so that I was too weak to help you guys out, he must have planned this." The others looked at me horrified, Dex looked down at me grimly. Then he turned toward the others and at the same time set down the bowl of soup on the table in front of me.

"Okay, Cassie, Andros and Carlos. You three head toward downtown and take of the Tengu Warriors, TJ, Zhane and I will take care of Goldar and the rest." He turned when he felt me brush my hand against his. I had managed to take off my locket and held it out to him. He stared down at me for a moment then he glanced over his shoulder. The Rangers had already taken off on Dex's orders, only A-6 was there but he had his back turned to us.

"Is Aisha here?" Dex said in a low voice. I had told him of Aisha's spirit appearing and helping the Power Rangers. I looked around and nodded.

"So are the others, their going to fight beside you guys. They know that the Tengu Warriors are too strong for these Rangers." I let out a sigh, even though I was glad for Aisha's help, still I wanted to go out on the battlefield and fight beside Dex and the others. He took my locket, and a golden light erupted from it and enfolded him. He looked down at his glowing hands.

"What the?" we heard A-6 exclaim. We both ignored him. Dex knelt on one knee and took my hands in his.

"May the power and my love protect you." I whispered, Dex leaned his head toward mine until we were inches apart. I'm not sure how but his mask became transparent and I was able to feel his lips instead of the mouthpiece of his mask. Too soon we separated and he stood up and raced after the Rangers with my locket resting on in chest underneath his suit. I stared at the doorway for a while, then with panic and worry churning my insides I turned in my seat and began to spoon soup into my mouth and at the same time silently pray that everything would be all right.

"DECA, could you please show the fight on screen?" I asked half expecting her to say that she wouldn't. _If she doesn't, then I'll view the fight via my mini computer. _Suddenly the screen lit up before me. The Tengu Warriors were chasing a group of shoppers but then Andros, Cassie and Carlos flew out of nowhere and grabbed them, the Tengu turned, talons out and slashing, and legs kicking. I watched as Carlos spin kick a Tengu, leapt into the air and preformed a split kick, kicking out with both legs as two Tengu flew at him from either side. Cassie was dodging another Tengu who was slashing at her, she preformed a low kick that the Tengu leapt over but was unable to dodge the quick uppercut that she delivered to the chin. The Tengu fell backward on the ground. _Nice move._ I thought impressed. Andros drove his fist into a Tengu's chest, swopped low, swept the feet from out from underneath the Tengu then finished it with another punch to the chest.

"DECA, could you show the Masked Rider and the others?" I asked. Even though I really didn't want to watch the fight and see that my prince was losing, I _had _to know if he was okay. The screen turned black for a second then another picture appeared, heart thudding and mouth dry, feelings of panic and worry battling I watched as the Masked Rider flung himself at Goldar. The both of them went rolling on the ground, kicking and punching each other, I was vaguely aware of TJ and Zhane battling Tengu Warriors a little bit away. Zhane flung a Tengu off of him, it regained its footing and raced at him only to be flung to the ground by a tornado kick, perfectly timed. But another Tengu appeared and launched itself at the Silver Ranger. TJ was battling two Tengu at the same time, grabbing a Tengu by the arm, he somehow managed to force it to it's knees while dealing a few well timed kicks and punches to the other Tengu. Then aiming a kick at the Tengu and while it stumbled back a few steps, TJ released the Tengu that he had been holding, kicked it away, spun and landed a quick jab to the other Tengu racing at him, TJ leapt up and delivered a high kick right to the Tengu's chin. It's head snapped back and with a bewildered look on it's face, it fell backward.

"Wow!" exclaimed A-6. I smiled. Throughout the battle I saw the spirits of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fighting beside Andros and the others. The White and the Blue Rangers were fighting besides Zhane and TJ, fighting beside Cassie, Carlos and Andros were the Pink, Black and the Red Rangers. The spirits of the Power Rangers were matching the fighting moves of my team mates move for move and step for step. Giving my team mates extra power in their punches and kicks. It looked like they were fighting along side their mirror images. _Where's Aisha?_ I scanned the battle scene but I couldn't see her. Hearing a cry from Dex, I turned my eyes back to the battle between Goldar and Dex. After planting a perfectly timed high kick, which snapped Goldar's head back Dex began to punch Goldar's chest and stomach over and over again, using all of his anger to give him more strength, for Goldar kept stumbling back every few steps or so until he lost his footing and fell.

"Electro Saber Activate!" shouted Dex in a fury toned vioce. He pulled the saber out of his belt, raised it high and brought it down on Goldar, who rolled out of the way at the last second. He managed to kick Dex's legs from underneath him, preforming a one handed handspring, Dex hopped back onto his feet and raced at Goldar.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HER!" Screamed Dex as he began to slash at Goldar's torso. Goldar spun, ducked and flew over his attacks, laughing at Dex's anger For a moment I wondered if Goldar had told Dex what has gone on in the palace, _though seeing me lying on a bed in a dress alone with Goldar..... _I watched as Dex made a flying leap toward Goldar who dodged out of the way at the last second still laughing.

"Would you really like to know what happened in that room?" He taunted. Letting out a yell of rage Dex summoned the Super Blue and flew at Goldar. I watched my eyes widening in surprise as Goldar let out several screams of pain, I thought I saw blood flow. A black light suddenly engulfed the both of them which took on the shape of a bubble, I let out a gasp as Dex vanished from my sight. We could still hear muffled cries and yelps of pain even though we couldn't see what was going on. I began to panic, thinking that Goldar was killing Dex using the power that was inside the staff. I let out a shriek as someone came flying out of the bubble and slammed into the ground. I began to struggle out of my chair to move closer to the screen.

"Who is it?" I asked frantically my heart was pounding. _Please don't let it be Dex. Oh please, oh please/_ Hearing a yell I turned my eyes back to the black bubble, it had dissolved and there floated Goldar! He was wearing a grin of triumph, he folded back his wings and flew toward Dex, who was barley staggering to his feet.

"Look out!" I screamed. Goldar slammed into Dex creating a massive crater in the cement! Goldar began to pummel Dex with his fists and powers, blasting Dex using fire balls that shot out of his eyes and sword. To my horror, I saw that several Tengu had arrived at the scene and were all watching and laughing.

"No!" I was afraid that the Tengu were going to join in. I got up and began to limp toward the door, the food had given me a bit of my strength back but not enough to take on a whole army. _I don't care! I don't care if I die while trying to rescue Dex! _I was halfway to the door when I collapsed. _Dammit!_ I thought as I began to struggle to my feet. I began to get angry at myself for being weak, for being so easily captured by Goldar. _You call yourself a Power Ranger?_ I managed to get to my feet and took a few shaky steps but, my knees were shaking too badly and I nearly collapsed again. _It's no use. _I thought as I staggered back to my chair and sagged in defeat. A surge of anger went through me as I remembered all those times that Lord Zedd stole my power, at how weak I had been afterward. I had made a promise that I would never be that weak again. Hearing a yell, I whipped my head up and looked toward the screen, half expecting to see Dex's lifeless body lying on the pavement, for a moment I wanted to close my eyes and turn away, not at all sure that I could stand seeing another person that I cared about being killed by my enemies. But to my surprise, shock and joy The Tengu Warriors and Goldar were all flung back by a golden light, catching themselves by spreading their wings they all looked astonished as Dex rose out of the crater, rose into the air and glared down at them. The golden glow that was surrounding Dex was more brighter. Below them, Carlos and Cassie and Andros arrived and stared up at Dex, the Tengu Warriors and Goldar, who had taken flight and had surrounded G. Zhane and TJ, who had finished fighting their Tengu were staring up also. A few moments of stillness passed, then as one the Tengu all began to race toward Dex, my heart was in my throat as I watched the Tengu completely cover him. For a minute nothing happened except that Goldar had a grin on his face but then it turned to surprise as the Tengu were blasted away. The golden light was glowing brighter and brighter causing everyone to cover their eyes or turn away, I shut my eyes but managed to keep them open a bit to see what was happening. But still I couldn't see, but I could hear the sounds of a continuing battle.

"Masked Rider Super Gold!" I heard Dex shout. I heard more yelling, it sounded like Dex was going on the attack and it also sounded as if Goldar wasn't at all ready for it. I heard a screech of pain and sounds like thunder assaulted my ears. More cries of pain were heard, more sounds of thunder, yells of anger and battle cries. _What the hell is going on? Is Dex winning?_ Suddenly my heart lurched as I saw a black beam of power rise in the middle of the golden glow and start to cover it. The golden glow had faded somewhat which gave us a chance to see what was happening. Goldar had regain control of the situation and trying to over power Dex, but Dex...was still fighting. He managed to move away a good distance and began to try to beat the black light back with the golden light. Both of the lights were connected between them and even though it looked as if both men were trying their hardest to push their own light in either direction, the lights weren't moving an inch. The Tengu Warriors had surrounded the Goldar and Dex looking both scared and perplexed at what was going on. The very air around them seemed to crackle and spark and I began to hope that maybe Dex with my power could beat Goldar, but to my horror, I saw that the golden light was being pushed back! _Dex! Come on! You can do it! _I let out little scream as the black light suddenly shot forward, only to be stopped somewhere near Dex's end. _I have to help him! _But for the life of me, I had no idea how! I began to panic, thinking that surely Dex was going to die right in front of my eyes! _I can't let happen! I won't! _Suddenly I found myself standing on my own two feet, filled with a warm glow that seemed to be coming from inside me that seemed to give me energy. A-6 had turned and was staring at me. _What's happening?_ I stared down at my hands, they too were glowing, in fact my entire body was glowing! Then I felt Aisha's voice speak softly in my ear.

"It's your love for him. Use it." I nodded then holding my hands out and pointing them at the screen, I added my love for Dex to the golden light. Goldar was laughing as the black light continued to creep closer and closer to Dex, but then he stopped as another light suddenly joined with Dex's.

"What the?" spluttered both men as the two lights became one and began to push back Goldar's black light! Goldar snarled and began to concentrate more harder, struggling to push the golden light away from him. Goldar began to panic, though he kept concentrating and focusing his anger and hatred, his light was still being beaten back. Finally the golden light gave a final push and engulfed Goldar! The force of the two lights joined into one blew him through the air, we could hear him scream and hurl curses as he turned tail and flew off with the Tengu right behind him. Everyone was still staring up at Dex, as he floated gently to the ground, and fell to his knees. The light that surrounded him had faded. _Whoo! Head rush. _He thought as he waited for the dizziness to subside, then he got to his feet and looked at the Rangers. Beside them Dex could see the spirits of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, who gave him the thumbs up then vanished. Dex smiled. _Thank you._My Team mates and Dex all turned and began to make their way back to the Mega Ship which had just landed to pick them up.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I struggled to my feet as Dex and the others walked into the room. Dex caught me just as I stumbled forward into his arms.

"Are you okay?" I was still worried that he had gotten hurt. _Some of Goldar's attacked were brutal looking. _I looked at him up and down, half expecting to see a couple of tears on his suit, but I didn't see any. Dex laughed softly as he took me back to my chair and settled me in it.

"Of course I'm okay, it's takes more than a couple of fireballs and energy blasts and an army of Tengu Warriors to take down the Masked Rider. I had your power," He brushed his lips against mine. "And your love, so I wasn't too worried." He grinned down at me. I returned it half heartily. I was about to reply but my team mates were busy asking questions about the golden light that Dex had used on Goldar, they had never seen anything like it. Next they asked question about that second beam of light. Where had it come from? Did they have another ally, who was watching them? They didn't seem to notice the fact that they, a couple of mere humans, had been able to defeat the Tengu Warriors, seemingly all by themselves.. I frowned slightly, but then thought it might be for the best. A-6 began to explain where the second beam of light came from. All heads turned toward me. The expressions on their faces was one of awe. Cassie was looking at me with narrowed eyes. The others began to ask me questions on how I summoned that awesome power, how long have I had it, and it was really totally awesome that I could combine it with that golden light and kick the crap out of Goldar. I laughed and told them that the golden light that they saw(the second one) was my love for the Masked Rider. It was able to beat Goldar because...well, our love for each other was more stronger than Goldar's hatred for me.

"But believe me, what me and Masked Rider did, I'm pretty sure it was a one time thing." Dex sighed in relief.

"Speaking of which....where did that light come from anyway? The one that was around Masked Rider? It wasn't around him when we first meet." piped up TJ. I turned toward him.

"That light came from the power of my locket, I lent it to him." Dex had somehow removed my locket from his neck and placed it around my own. I leaned back in my chair, not only was I tired and need to get some rest, but I wanted to take a bath and wash my mouth of Goldar's kiss.

"You can lend your power to anyone? Why didn't you tell us?" asked Carlos.

"I thought you said that you couldn't give your power to anyone else, have you been lying to us again?" snapped Cassie. Dex spoke up. His tone had a irritated edge to it.

"She wasn't lying, not everyone can handle her power, only certain people can. Tommy and the others could handle it because their power coins served as a base, over time it merged with their physical energy, the power became a part of them. The reason that I can control it is because the same holds true for me, the belt that enables me to become the Masked Rider can withstand Amy's power as well."

"But why?" asked Andros. I spoke up.

"The reason why is because, it has to do with a longevity. The power coins that the Power Rangers have...er had been around for eons, before any of us where born, the same goes for the Masked Rider powers. His powers have been passed down from generation to generation, throughout the centauries."

"Um...I wouldn't say centauries Ames. That makes the previous Masked Riders sound like old men." Dex rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry." I gave him a tired but apologetic smile. He turned back to my team mates.

"Do you understand?"

"Are you saying that our powers to morph have to be around for a couple of thousand years before Amy can share her power with us?"

"That's the way it works, yeah." I said struggling to stay awake. That was the way that I had always interpreted it. Cassie scowled, I ignored her. Right now, I really didn't care whether all of them thought that I was lying to them or that the only reason that I couldn't transfer some of my power to them was because I _wouldn't_. Dex saw that I was nearly asleep, picking me up he began to shoulder his way to the door.

"Look she'll answer any questions that you have later, right now Amy needs to rest." And without another word he walked out of the room, giving him directions, we entered my room and he laid me down on my bed. I let out a sigh and looked up at him, he was looking at the dress that I still wore. Finally he spoke with distinct anger.

"Are you up to telling me what went on up there?" I looked back at him, I didn't want to tell that I had been kissed by another man other than him

"Please Amy." Dex almost whispered, there was pain in his eyes as well, for a split second I saw through his mask again. _I could lie to him, but then would that make him feel better? _I thought about it. _No, I can't lie to him. Even though I want to. He'd know that I was lying. _I nodded while keeping my eyes averted from Dex's.

"He kissed me Dex, ran his hand up and down my arm, he touched my face, and my hair." I shuddered as I remembered. I turned my entire face away from him.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Sorry? For what?" He asked in surprise. I was still turned away when I answered him.

"For allowing Goldar to kiss me, for allowing myself to be captured. "_For being weak. _"Even when I've become stronger, I'm still unable to protect myself." A silver of panic went through me as I thought that Dex wold love me less.

"Amy." Dex said softly, he touched my face and turned it so that I was looking into his eyes, once again I could see through his mask, instead of disappointment or dislike, there was love. That look sent a warm feeling through me and so did his next words.

"I don't love you less just because you were kissed or touched by another man, all of it was done against your will, plus your energy had been stolen there was nothing that you could have done to stop it. But none of that matters, what matters to me is that you're here right now, with me and that you're alive. And despite the fact that you think that I'll love you any less because I saw you as you used to be, a weak girl, come on Amy, you know how I love being your rescuer, your knight in shining armor. Or prince I should say. I will _never _love you any less, in fact I'll always love you, I 'll always love you despite the fact that Goldar kissed you and despite the fact that you used to be an agent of Zedd's." I looked at him. When I had revealed to him that I had once worked for Zedd, I thought for sure that he would turn his back on me, but he didn't. Instead he had said that to him it hadn't mattered. He knew that I had done those horrible things while underneath a spell and against my will. And the fact that I was working hard to atone for the things I did only made him love me more. We stared at each other for a long time.

"Thank you Dex, t–that means a lot to me." My throat was choked up with emotion

"Hey, what are future husband's for?"

Soon after Dex left, but not before I had eaten at least two more plates of hot soup and a chicken dinner complete with mashed potatoes and vegetables, he went back to Leawood, but not without kissing me and telling me that he loved me. I lay and bed and stared up at the ceiling feeling foolish that I had thought that Dex would love me less just because I wasn't all powerful. _He loves me despite seeing me in this weaken state, in fact he knows that I'm not all powerful. If I were all powerful then I would have been able to save my mom, my dad, my step dad, Kim, I would have been able to fight off Zedd's spell, in fact if_ I was_ all powerful then my life would be much different._. I sighed. _Well, can't wish for the return of things if they are long gone._ I thought as I rolled out of bed and limped toward a small mirror that was on my desk, glancing at myself I let out a horrified gasp. _Oh my god! I–is that really me?_ I turned myself around, looking at my reflection from all sides. In the dress I looked much older, I touched my hair and stared at the hairstyle that Goldar had given me. I cocked my head to the side and gave myself a good once over.I looked nice, more than nice. Stunning I should say. _No wonder Goldar was so taken with me, I've got to admit that the guy has pretty good taste in clothing, in fact he made me......WHAT AM I SAYING? _I quickly undid the hairstyle until my hair was falling onto my shoulders, I brushed some from my face and looked at myself, I still looked beautiful! The way that Goldar envisioned me! I turned away and began to hurriedly strip myself of the dress that Goldar had placed on me, flinging it to the ground I stared at it. _I'll burn it afterward. _I thought as I turned to the bathroom, entered and began filling the tub with semi-hot water. Climbing in I began to wash myself vigorously, grabbing my loofa I scrubbed my entire body, imagining that I was scrubbing away Goldar's touch. Just imagining his hands.....I shuddered and swallowed the bile that rose in my throat. I submerging my entire head under the water, and began to scrub my head. Pressing my fingertips hard on my head, I put enough shampoo onto my hair to completely erase Goldar's touch, and to undo the hairstyle which he had given me, the water was warm enough to erase the coldness of the room where he had taken me. It was strange and bizarre, to find that one of my enemies had....._fallen for me_. I couldn't help but run all those times where Goldar and Lord Zedd would run their hands down my face or through my hair. _They hadn't done it that often, mostly preferring to slap or punch me._ _And who would have thought that it would be Goldar?_ I shuddered again and began to scrub my body again. After washing at least four times, I drained the water of the tub, and after levitating a towel I patted my body and rubbed my hair dry. I climbed out and stepped onto the bath mat breathing a sigh, I felt cleaner. _Just one more thing to do._ I thought as I wrapped my hair in the towel and made my way to the sink. Grabbing my toothbrush and nearly emptying the contents of my toothpaste tube and nearly using two bottles of mouthwash, I had finally gotten rid of Goldar's taste that had lingered on my mouth. As I dried my mouth and made my way out of the bathroom and into my room to put on some fresh clothes, I couldn't help but think: _Now if only I could wash my mind clean of the memory._

A few days later we were following yet another lead on dad's whereabouts. I had had enough of these leads, I wanted something concrete. _When he was looking for me and mom at least _his_ search was slightly easier, he had the Command Center and it's search engine. I wonder how long it took him to find us? _I suddenly thought. _It couldn't have taken very long, but it must have been a bit complicated , with Tentomon always there and the danger of him finding out. Why did Dad not tell Tentomon about us? _I was sitting down on one of the chairs in the bridge, I had my feet resting on the console in front of me. The other Rangers were somewhere around on the ship. _Probably trying to think of places that we haven't looked_. I wasn't giving up hope though, even though at times it did seem hopeless and there was the underlying fear of never seeing dad again, still I didn't give up. Glancing at the screen of the bridge to see a couple of planets floating in space, looking like different colored balloons, I pulled out my mini computer and began to scan them for any life forms, next I punched in the code that enabled my computer to identify the life forms. _Zilch. _I sat back with a frustrated groan and rubbed my forehead. _Why can't I find him? He found me! Am I missing something here?_ I leaned my head back and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes and thought of my friends. _If Tommy and the others were here then all of this would be more bearable. _I closed my eyes for a second, the weight of everything bearing down on me heavily, tears began to well up under my closed eyes. _I hate this! I hate it! _I opened my eyes and wiped away the tears. _Maybe this is a punishment of some sort, for all of the terrible things that I was forced to do while under Zedd's spell. _I jumped when DECA made her presence known

"Penny for your thoughts?" I shook my head.

"No, it's....nothing." Suddenly I wish that I could talk to Tentomon, I needed a friendly face more than anything but before I could do anything my computer beeped. Glancing at it I sat bolt upright and stared. On screen was a little reddish brown planet, it didn't look very fascinating but what caught me and sent my heart pounding was the name, which appeared below.

"Eltar" I stared at the screen and the name for the longest time, not even daring to breath. There it was, right in front of me. My home planet. _My real home planet. Where everything first started._ I stared at the screen for a few moments longer, then I jumped to my feet.

"Right then," I said out loud. "I'm going down to the planet and looking around. DECA, where are the others?"

"Yo, in case you haven't noticed, we don't have time to go down memory lane. We are trying to find Zordon." said A-6. I turned toward him, for the first couple of minutes I had completely forgotten he was in the same room.

"A-6, this is my home planet, the planet that I grew up on, the planet that holds my forgotten past. Look I know that you don't care....." He began irritated.

"Of course I care!" I glanced over my shoulder at him while limping toward the door. I let out a disbelieving laugh, then quickly said.

"Look, I'm going to find the others, tell them where I'm going and then I'll go." I limped out into the hall and found my team mates, all in the mess hall, having a quick bite before continuing with the search. I stopped in the doorway and was a bit surprised to see that Andros wasn't there.

"Where's Andros?" TJ glanced up at me.

"He told us that he had to go and check something out but he'll be back soon." I nodded then hurriedly told them what I had found. They all stared at me.

"Your home planet? I thought Earth was your home planet." said Cassie.

"I was born on Eltar, remember? My mom was the one that was from Earth, we fled there when Dregon attacked. Listen I'm going, I'll be back in a bit." I started to turn away when TJ suddenly stood up.

"Would you like one of us to come with you?" I turned fully and looked at him surprised for a moment, then I glanced away. Whenever I thought about setting foot on Eltar for the very first time, I had visualized my friends being with me. Because along with me, they had found out what I really was, where I really came from, that fact that I had amnesia and couldn't remember a thing of my life on Eltar, I wanted them to share this moment with me. Not with..... I looked at TJ again. _I guess it would be nice to have one of them come along, I mean they could learn more about me, since I am the first half human half alien that they've ever met._

"Okay, whose for a trip to my forgotten home planet?" I asked looking at all of them. I was pretty sure that Zhane wouldn't be able to come, his morphing powers were still on the fritz. TJ, would be a strong possibility and so would Cassie. Carlos.....uh....doubtful. Cassie was looking at me.

"What do you say Cass? Wanna take a trip down memory lane that I've forgotten due to amnesia?" She looked unsure for a moment and a bit uncomfortable. There had been times where she had thought that since I was an alien, I was an enemy. When she had said this aloud to me, I had merely laughed at her.

"Zordon was an alien, as well as Dimitria and the Phantom Ranger. Just because _you_ and the other rookies have been fighting and dealing with evil aliens, does not justify the fact that_ all_ aliens are evil and want to destroy the Earth. Some of them are good, in fact some of them are Rangers, like us, and they are our allies." I had then spun around, morphed into a puddle and taken off. Now, I looked at her. _Nah, she's definitely not going to be comfortable around me._ I turned to TJ.

"Looks like it's just you and me Teej." I said brightly. "Grab your Astro Morpher and let's book it, I certainly wouldn't want to miss out on this." We said good bye to the others and took off. A bubble of excitement went through as we took the Astro Gliders and flew toward the planet. _Eltar, I wonder if I might start getting my memories back once I set foot on the planet._ A voice in the back of my mind said. _You're kidding right?_ I smiled to myself. I knew full well that I would only get impressions of familiarity(if any) but I would never get my memories back. _Still....an amnesiac can dream right? _We touched down on the planet and jumped down from our Gliders. We both stood still and looked around. There was nothing, no vegetation, no people ran out to greet us or to investigate who the two strangers were that had landed on their planet. Even from where we were standing there was a sense of desolateness and abandonment. A stirring of disappointment and fear went through me. _What if we don't find anything? What if I don't remember anything? _I shook my head and chased away the negative emotions. _I have to stay positive here, there is a chance that I'll come across something which will stir up a memory._ We began to walk forward, I kept looking around, hoping of spotting a fellow Eltarian and finally making contact with my past. But the farther we walked, the more it became apparent that there was no one on the planet. _Are there any people at all here? Surly there must be at least a few survivors from the two wars that took place here....unless..... _I was distracted from my thoughts when I saw what looked like a village up ahead, I began to limp faster toward it, hoping that we would find someone there. TJ hurried after me. We arrived and began to look through the houses, most of them had desegrated due to the elements of the planet and time and....war. Most of them had crumbled, some of them appeared to have been blasted apart, a few had a few walls still standing, some only had the doorways. _Were there any survivors after Rita came and attacked? _In the houses, the ones that were still standing and seemed to be still standing as though they had been waiting for me to come, only held spare furniture: Beds with sheets that desegrated at the touch, furniture that crumpled as though tired of existing, from house to house we searched. They were the same, empty of all life, with nothing in it but the furniture and the long abandoned beds. Emotion welled up inside me as I looked at the emptiness around me, tears were streaming down my eyes as I finally admitted to myself that I had come home, but to an empty shell. There was no one here, no memories resurfaced, no emotions expect sadness and disappointment at what I found._ Why didn't dad tell me that the planet was like this?_ I thought as I limped further into the village. _He knew that I had wanted to see Eltar, especially with him. _It would have been a comfort to me to have him here with me, explaining why the planet was like this, _it would have made us more closer._ A sharp pain went through my heart, despite that I continued to move forward, until I came to a house that had half of it's roof and part of the left wall blown apart. I stopped and stared at it for a while, TJ was still some way farther back, but to me it was like he wasn't even there. Something tugged at the back of my mind, but when I tried to see what it was, but it vanished. As we had been looking through the houses in the back of my mind I had looked at every piece of furniture, searching for an object that proclaimed that the house that we had entered had been the one which dad, mom and I had lived. That hope had began to dwindle as we looked at house after house. I kept searching in vain though, but at the same time I was hoping that I would never find it. I was afraid of what I would find there. I looked at the house before me, I felt TJ's presence right beside me, without another word both of us stepped into the house. I stood still and gazed around, the house looked like the others, but instead of abandonment, it had a sense of anger and an underlying.....sadness. The furniture, most of it had been destroyed, there were bits and pieces that still littered the floor. It looked as though someone had destroyed them out of pure anger and rage. I continued farther into the house looking into a room that had to be the kitchen, the table had been smashed straight down the middle. I saw that one of the table legs was sticking out of the wall as though it had been thrust into it, the floor, I saw, was also cracked. I turned away and moved into a room that made me stop. Stepping into the room I stared, _this looks like a kid's room._ The room looked as if it hadn't been touched what so ever, by neither time or the elements or war. It had been preserved as if, it were waiting for the owner to return. Against the wall on the left side of the bed was a bureau with a couple of deformed looking stuffed animals. Along the wall, a foot from it was a window, the curtains, though they looked new, had lost their color and hung lackluster against the window. The paint along the wall was a lilac color I think, now faded. The walls themselves had cracks and burn marks, but they themselves had either faded or looked as if someone had tried to repair them. Right next to the window was a bookshelf that was lined with books, I was about to pick one up but then stopped myself. _The owner of this house might come back._ Excitement filled me as I finished that thought, _maybe there is a survivor_! I turned and limped rapidly from the room and almost bumped into TJ, I told him what I found and showed him the room.

"The owner, he'll probably come back, maybe he knew dad, maybe he knew me." I was wrapped up in my own excitement that I didn't even notice that TJ had not said anything.

"Amy," he said softly but I was still jumping up and down, he had to call to me a second time. I turned to him.

"What is it?"

"I found something too, I think you had better come see." Puzzled and a little worried that the owner might come back and think that we were scavengers or something, I followed him toward the back of the house, which had the look of being repaired. There were large cracks on the wall and part of the ceiling. We entered a room, that had large windows, a closet big enough to hold all of Kimberly's clothing after a shopping spree and a king sized bed. _The mother and father's room. _I thought as I stepped further into the room. The room itself seemed bare, and yet it spoke volumes of once being occupied now left with an overwhelming sense of loneliness. It almost hurt to be in the room, I turned to TJ. Silently he pointed toward a small desk, on the desk was a small picture covered with years of dust, but remarkably looked preserved. I stepped up to the desk and picked up the picture and blew off the dust, I looked down at the picture and nearly dropped it in shock. The picture was of my parents! My mom and dad were both smiling into the camera, dad had a nervous smile on his handsome face, as if he wasn't used to being photographed. My mom was grinning widely, laughter sparkled in her eyes. In her arms was a one year old me, whose eyes were closed, apparently asleep, but there was a small smile on my face. My hand began to shake as I remembered dad telling me that mom had taken a picture, the year that I was born, of all three of us. _This is the picture of us! _I looked toward the bed, suddenly picturing my father with his head in his hands weeping for the family that he had lost and was sure was never going to see again after the attack by Dregon's army. After helping out in caring for the sick and injured and burying the dead, he probably came back only to lie in bed and stare at the picture. _He probably cried himself to sleep, like I did after mom died_. Tears were streaming down my eyes, and I sat on the bed, still holding onto the picture. _Dad, he was thinking of finding mom and me and bringing us back. That's why my room looks....but then Rita came, trapped him in that tube, and when he did find us, mom had remarried and I had lost my memories....oh god! _I felt TJ sit down beside me, and I leaned against his shoulder and began to cry.

As we made our way out of the village, I began to think about what my life would have been like if Dregon had never attacked Eltar. I would have grown up happy, my birthdays would have been celebrated with my mom and dad, instead of with my friends, mom would have made the cake and my favorite meals. I would have probably fallen in love with a fellow Eltarian instead of a Edenoite prince. _Did I have friends on Eltar? Did I get along with everybody? Did anybody know that I was a half human? Were we ever shunned? Did I have a pet? _There were so many questions that I didn't even think about asking dad. _I'll ask him after I rescue him and free him from that damn tube, then maybe we can build a memorial for everything that our enemies took from us, everything that we had lost._

"Hey, TJ." He turned his head toward me.

"Thanks for coming with me." I glanced at the picture of my family that I had in my hand. TJ smiled underneath his mask.

"You're welcome." _Even though we didn't find anything, and I didn't recover any memories, at least I found a treasure that Dad had left me. _We were about to hop back on our Gliders when a voice behind us snarled.

"Welcome home princess." Spinning around, we were shocked to see Double-Face, Cyclopter and Goldar, with his army of Tengu Warriors!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

They had appeared and had us surrounded, TJ and I were back to back afraid that if we even looked away for a split second, Goldar's group and Cyclopter's group would attack. I would have a time fighting them off and protecting TJ. _And that's not half of the trouble. Goldar can turn my own attacks against me_, _he's knows how to control the power within the staff almost as well as I can with my own._ My heart pounded double time as I finished that thought and I braced myself for a tough fight. My right hand went automatically to the hilt of my sword, but I didn't draw it out, not yet. I was extending out my left hand slowly so as not to attract attention, I was getting ready to fling TJ onto his Glider and send him to the safety of the MegaShip, where he would gather reinforcements. _Hopefully they'll come in time. _I opened up my hand and extended my fingers slightly, it was as if that had been a signal. They attacked. Quick as lighting I drew my sword and slashed at the nearest Tengu that leaped into my face, it barley had time to dodge and get out of range before another one took its place. My fist shot out, it turned it's head slightly to the left, so that I punched nothing but air but that moment was made up with a swift tornado kick which sent it flying to the right. In it's place another Tengu launched itself at me, and after that one another and then another. _How big has this Tengu army become?_ I thought as I avoided a uppercut from a Tengu, I ducked low, and swept it's feet from underneath it. The Tengu fell forward, grabbing it by the shoulders I lifted it over my head and threw it as hard as I could toward Cyclopter and Double-Face, both of them leapt back as the Tengu missed them by inches. It lay there for a moment stunned, it started to stagger to its feet when it was sent flying through the air by a furious kick by Double-Face.

"Idiot!" he roared. He turned toward Goldar.

"Why is your Tengu army be so easily beaten by a mere and filthy half-ling?" I answered for him.

"I don't know. How can a dork like you can be so easily beaten by an eighteen year old boy?" I smiled as the both of them raced at me. I leapt up and at the same time position my body so that it appeared as if I was going to kick the both of them. Cyclopter and Double face both drew their weapons and aimed at me. At the same time I had drew out my Blaster and fired at the same time I slashed at the both of them. Both yelped in pain and fell, I landed on the ground and holstered my gun. Putting one foot behind the other, and spinning with one leg out and floored a Tengu that had thought I was an easy target with my back turned. The Tengu landed on the ground, I leaped over it and began to limp as fast as I could to where TJ was. During my battle, TJ had found himself surrounded by Tengu Warriors and Goldar and needless to say, he was getting his butt kicked. _Why is it that when faced with Piranhatrons this guy can hold his own, but when facing Goldar and a horde of Tengu Warriors, he gets his butt handed to him a couple of thousand times over?_ I thought as I pulled back my hands, gathered energy and released.

"Power Blast!" The Tengu let out screams as they were slammed with it, TJ ducked to avoid getting hit as well but Goldar, who had thrown up a shield to protect himself, grabbed TJ, lifted him off of his feet and threw him right into the path of my second blast, TJ let out a scream but at the last second the Blast swerved to avoid him and headed straight for Goldar, I caught TJ and set him down. He turned his head toward me.

"How....?"

"Later." I said curtly.

"Stay close to me and try not to get separated." I set him down, we both turned to face Goldar and the others. Goldar was just staggering to his feet.

"You'll pay for that."

"Oh, yeah, as if I haven't heard that one before." I quipped, I turned to TJ.

"Can you call the others?"

"I've been trying to, but something's blocking my signal." _Great. _I thought getting throughly irritated. Then an idea came to mind, digging out my mini computer, I handed it to him.

"Here, try to contact DECA on it."

"What but the signal....?" started TJ.

"Just try TJ!" I snapped at him losing patience. _Rookie._ I thought as I rushed at the army glowing yellow. _You would think that I would have had inherited some of dad's magic, I am half Eltarian. _I shrugged my shoulders as I sent a Tengu spinning into the air only to land hard on it's stomach, I ducked as Goldar swung his sword at my head, I reached up and grabbed one of his pigtails, yanked his head down and brought my knee up toward his chin. _Well, at least I inherited his powers, that's definitely something._ I thought as I twirled my sword so that I was holding the blade. Using the hilt, I whacked a couple of Tengu Warriors on the side of the head. _They'll be feeling that in the morning._ I thought as they crumpled at my feet. I tossed my sword and landed a few punches to Double-Face, who had appeared in front of me, I paused just long enough to catch my sword as it fell back into my hand and slashed him. He staggered back and Cyclopter took his place.

"TJ!" I shouted as Cyclopter slashed and kicked at me, I leaped up to avoid a low kick and cried out as a Tengu's foot nearly slammed itself into my face. The Tengu's foot stopped within inches and the Tengu itself went flying backwards. _Thank god that my reflexes are fast_. I thought. Suddenly Goldar appeared and punched me hard, I fell back onto the ground. _But apparently not fast enough._ I thought as I found myself looking up into a circle of faces._ Uh oh. _Goldar had his staff pointed straight at me, Cyclopter and Double-Face had their weapons also pointed at me and the Tengu Warriors looked ready to grab and rip me limb from limb. I froze for split second staring up at all of them.

"Don't move." Goldar growled. He turned his head slightly, I looked to my left and gasped. TJ had been grabbed by several Tengu, but the thing that shocked me was how TJ's head had slumped so that it was resting on his chest, his entire body looked limp, not too far away was my abandoned mini computer, half hidden in the dirt. Cyclopter stepped out of the circle and walked over to TJ, he looked at him up and down. It occurred to me that this was the first time that TJ had ever seen or fought against any of Count Dregon's army.

"This? This is the new generation of Rangers?" Cyclopter laughed.

"Even the Masked Rider and the original Rangers put up a greater fight, they were more of a challenge." I swallowed hard willing for all of them to glance at TJ for a split second, then I could make my move. I also fought down my rising anger, it must be irritating for TJ and the others to be constantly compared to my friends and I. I couldn't help but remember all of those times when I had felt for sure that I was being compared to Aisha by the others, though they never said anything. But that had only made me work twice as hard, train twice as hard and to prove myself worthy. And I had done that, _and so had TJ and the others. It's not their fault that they can't stand up to these guys._ Goldar's eyes were on me and for a few horrible seconds, I thought they were never going to look away. I racked my brain desperately, _a distraction! I need a distraction._ A high pitched scream that came from TJ caused everyone to turn their heads. I quickly morphed into liquid, and shot upward. The ground underneath the Tengu, Cyclopter, Double -Face and Goldar exploded underneath them. The air filled with their screams and flying bodies, just as they were about to be slammed into the ground they shot off in different directions. The Tengu, I saw had taken wing and were flying away while Cyclopter and Double-Face, where nowhere to be seen. I materialized and stood for still for a moment. _Need to take a breather here._ Rotating my left shoulder, I limped over to where TJ was. He was on the ground and was bleeding from a wound in his chest. Kneeling I healed him. _Just missed the heart, thank god._ I thought as he stirred and sat up.

"You all right?" He nodded then looked around.

"Where...?"

"Gone." I said simply. I helped him up, then he looked down at the ground.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing." He said quickly, he spun around and marched back toward the Gliders. _Oh TJ. _I thought _I wish you wouldn't feel bad, it's not your fault that the Tengu Warriors are more stronger than you_. I was about to follow him when I let out a scream of pain as a blast of energy and electricity shot through my body. I heard TJ shout and call my name. The pain, the pain! It was tearing me apart! In my mind played the images of Zedd blasting me with his staff while I cowered at his feet, nearly dying as he took my power away from me, the combined attacks of Goldar, Rito Revolto and Zedd on the day that I had died, Goldar's attack as I was flying through the air to help my friends, nearly every punishment that have ever been laid on me by my enemies.

"MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP!" I began screaming....it was unbearable! Suddenly Goldar was in front of me, watching me calmly as I continued to scream and writhe. He lifted his staff and the pain went away. I slumped forward only to throw back my head and howl as the pain started anew.

"Stop it!" yelled TJ who was trying to get to us but was held back by a force field. Goldar stopped the pain and looked at me while I slumped forward and nearly fell on my knees, but he caught me and held me for a bit. Turning his head he saw TJ about to use his Astro Axe but Goldar merely lifted up one hand and pointed it at TJ who went flying.

"Insect." He muttered. He turned back to me and smiled as I let out another shriek, my head fell onto his shoulder. Goldar put his arms around me. He felt my entire body shaking.

"I hate you. I hate you!" I groaned, trying to summon strength to kick his butt.

"I know you hate me. But you have to ask yourself, are you hating the right person?" My head was spinning to feel much of surprise at the question.

"Think about it. Who was the one that led you onto this very path of pain. Your father and your fearless leader, Zordon was the one that alerted the other Rangers of your existence, Zordon was the one that convinced them to recruit you to replace the Ranger that you killed. Tommy was the one that gave you the Coin that started you down the path to pain, suffering and grief, think about it. If Zordon had never told the Rangers of you, or if Tommy had never given you the Power Coin, you would be safe, free of the pain that you have suffered, free of all of the grief and guilt that weigh heavily on you. You would be living the life of a normal girl right now, your parents would be alive, your family together." He turned his head slightly, his staff was resting lightly on the back of my head sending a spell coursing through my mind, he watched as my face slowly contorted into hatred and rage, my eyes took on a red glow.

"Tommy was only following orders when he gave you the Power Coin. Sure they trained you to use your powers, to control them, to use them against Zedd and his army, but what they were really doing was distracting you. Zordon _allowed_ Count Dregon's forces into your mother's house on the day that she was killed, he was angry at her for choosing another man, a human like herself and he thought that she had to pay." My body froze in shock. Tears were streaming down my face and my anger grew. _I knew it. I KNEW IT! He did know that she was going to die_, _he knew all along, he was behind it, no wonder...._ Hatred rose within me. _I'll kill him! I swear to god I'll kill him._ In the back of my mind, someone was shouting but I couldn't make out the words. Goldar spoke again.

"Tommy gave you the Power Coin and pretended to be your friend but in reality he hated you. In fact all of them hated you. Haven't you ever wondered how it was even possible that they, the Power Rangers, who protect Angel Grove on a daily basis, were incapable of protecting your Earth parents and let them die?" He paused then said in a low voice.

"It was because they _allowed_ them to die." My eyes widen in shock. _My friends......allowed.....my parents.....to...die?_ I let out a moan and shook my head from side to side. _Why didn't I see it? I was so blind back then. But it all fits, Dregon wouldn't have been able to get into the house unless, Tommy and the others had allowed them to pass. _My hand curled into a fist, my eyes flashed a brighter red. He smiled to himself as he continued.

"Do you want to know the real reason why they were incapable of rescuing you whenever you were captured and tortured? Would you like to know the _real _reason why they, the Power Rangers, didn't do a thing, while you lay on the floor screaming and begging for mercy?" He paused for a minute for dramatic effect.

"It was because they figured out your secret." My entire body froze, my mouth dropped open, my eyes widen. Chill after chill went through me. _They knew? All of them knew? This entire time?_

"When they found out that it was you that killed Aishia, the former Yellow Ranger, they wanted to punish you, but they couldn't figure out the right punishment to justify the crime. So they went to Zedd and told him that in order for him to finally get you to punish you for turning against him, they would have to stage a number of battles, the battles would have to be tough so you would be weaken and be easily "captured." They handed you over to us. So all those times you were being beaten and whipped and silently begging the other Rangers to come and save you, they were having a good laugh at all the pain that you were going through, that you've suffered....the only regret is that....it wasn't at their hands." I slowly raised my head and looked at Goldar in the eye, he took a step back.

"Tommy....Zordon." I spat out the names with fury and hatred. I looked down at my gloved hand, in one swift movement I had removed my Astro Morpher and reverted back into my civilian clothing. My head was against my chest and my shoulders were shaking.

"They took everything from me. My family, my innocence, my life!" I threw my Astro Morpher down and glared at it. In my mind, I saw the Yellow Ranger Power Cion, I rased my hand and pointed it at the "Coin" _You. You're the real cause of all of my pain. Of everything that I've suffered_. My eyes flashed more brightly red. My hand glowed, an energy ball began to form in the middle of my palm. My thoughts became crowded with the images of Tommy and the others all of them present whenever I was captured, beaten and tortured. I pictured all of them laughing down at me, mocking my pain, planning everything with Lord Zedd, happy that I was paying for the crime that I had committed, that I was being punished in the worst way. I shut my eyes and behind closed eye lids I saw them smiling and laughing, excited for me that I had found love, comforting me while mourning for my parents, promising that they would help me make Zedd pay, training me, helping me control my powers. I faltered, the energy ball shrank as I staggered backward, clutching my head, I moaned as more memories surged through me. I saw Kimberly, my sister, as she took me in and gave me a home, teasing Rocky, making fun of Dimitria and her way of talking, showing me gymnastics. Adam and Billy, both of them curious about my power, preforming tests on me, showing me how to work my Zord and the controls of the Command Center and Power Chamber. Rocky, always ready with a joke and a prank. Tommy, who knew all too well of what I had been through, the guilt and the determination of atonement. I shook my head from side to side as pain shot through it. I let out another moan. Slowly the pain faded and I straightened and looked at Goldar, he had watched silently, curious as to whether the spell that he had cast was taking an effect or was driving me insane. He relaxed slightly as my eyes locked with his, thinking that the rage in them was directed at my friends. Once again I lifted up my hand and took aim at my Astro Morpher, the ball of energy grew bigger.

"Amy! No! Stop!" shouted TJ.

"Destroy it! After that destroy your so-called friends, then you will be free of the pain that they have laid on you. Hunt them down! Make them suffer for everything that they took from you!" TJ again called out to me. I glanced at him, our eyes met, my left eye gave him a quick wink. I lifted up my other arm and drew back my right and brought both of the heels together, I moved my body into a stance. The ball of energy grew larger and brighter.

"I will punish those who that have hurt me." I said in a low voice. Goldar nodded in agreement, then he froze and cried out as I unleashed the Power Blast, it was zooming straight toward him! He threw himself to one side. The force field that had surrounded us shattered. Goldar stood up and stared at me, my eyes flashed fire as I faced him.

"How dare you try to place me underneath a spell and try to turn me against my friends and my father! When they've done nothing but care for me, helped me in becoming a more stronger person. Helped me redeem myself for all of those horrible things that I was forced to do. But most of all they've become the family that I've lost." My Morpher flew off the ground, I stuck out my right arm and the Morpher wrapped itself onto my wrist and opened. Without even pressing the Morphing sequence I morphed in the Yellow Ranger. I drew my sword, he aimed his staff at me and fired, I morphed into a puddle of liquid and raced toward Goldar who followed and tried to blast me. TJ was about to run over and help me when I shouted:

"Stay back! He's mine!" I swerved around a fireball and an energy lighting bolt, I quickly fired back with a Power Blast, which he dodged, I fired another, he dodged that one too, I fired another, he spun on one foot dodging it, he turned back to face me, and was surprised that I was right in front of him! My fists pummeled his face and his chest. He kept staggering back. His head was thrown back due to an uppercut, I crouched and shot out my leg, Goldar cried out and fell onto his back, I pinned him down, knocked away his staff and had my sword in his face.

"I oughta finish you off right now for everything that you've done. As tempting as that is, I've got a question for you and you better answer correctly." I snarled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw TJ coming closer without turning my head I called over to him if he was okay.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I nodded. Goldar smirked.

"If you want to know where your father is being held I don't know."

"That's a lie!" I shouted angrily lowering my sword's point closer to Goldar's face.

"You know where he is, now you had better tell me or I swear to god I'll...."

"You'll what? If you kill me, you'll spend the majority of your time following possible leads that'll turn into dead ends, you'll be right back where you started." He paused then said. "Now if you torture me, I may give you some hints." he laughed.

"Go ahead, torture me. You know how, you've been through it yourself. You know which ones hurt the most." My hand that was holding my sword was shaking. _I could.....the things they did to me....I remember how...... _

"Go on, unleash all of your anger and hatred on me. It'll free you, you'll feel so much lighter."

"Amy..." said TJ softly. My sword lowered so that it was inches from Goldar's face, I pictured myself sticking it in his eye and twisting it. I struggled to push away the image, horrified that I was actually thinking of..... Letting out a growl I leapt away from him and sheathed my sword. Goldar scrabbled to his feet. We stared at each other. I was panting, the sudden urge to preform acts of torture on Goldar, the acts in which I had to suffer ......_I'm not like that, I will never be like that!_ Goldar smiled at me.

"I'm not like that, I'm not like you, I will never be like you!" I shouted in desperation, wanting the urges to go away, wanting the thoughts to leave my mind forever, to have never come into my mind to begin with. Goldar chuckled softly then vanished. I stared at the spot where he had stood. TJ stood in front of me and placed a hand on my shoulder and was surprised to feel trembling.

"Amy...are...you okay?" I looked up at him, I took a deep breath and managed to stop my trembling, plus push away the sick feeling that had risen within me.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I–I just need something to calm my stomach, it's...in an uproar." He looked at me for a moment then nodded and led the way back to the Gliders that were waiting for us. As soon as we had gotten back to the ship I got a cup of tea then retreated to my room. Even though it had been a tough battle which had sapped me of my strength, I felt restless. So I began to pace the length of my room. _Was I really going to go through with it? Am I really capable of doing something that horrible to a person, even to an enemy, just to gain some information about the whereabouts of my father? _I stopped and stared at the wall for a few minutes, I shook my head. _No, I would never do that to someone, I'm not capable of such a thing, I'm not!_ A voice in the back of my mind spoke up. _Are you certain?_ Instead of answering that question I swiftly turned my thoughts to Goldar and the battle on Eltar. _How did he know that I would be there? _I had never mentioned going to Eltar to anyone, except for my friends and my Earth parents in passing. And to Dad, _could he have gotten the information out of my father? _I thought about it then shook my head_. No, he couldn't have, besides that kind of information would have been petty and unimportant to extract from Dad. Goldar knows that I am an amnesic with little or no memory of my home planet_,_ so of course he would eventually figure out that I would wanted to go there, he must have sensed my presence on the planet and staged the ambush. Probably as a welcome home kind of thing. _I thought bitterly.Limping over to my desk and picking up my computer,I opened it and brought up a picture of Eltar. Over a hill I had noticed what looked like tombstones in a large area of the land but I couldn't investigate further because TJ had been with me. I made an excuse of not going into the cemetery and turned away. I guess a part of me was afraid of finding members of my father's family in that cemetery and finding out the fact that _there were no other survivors_ except for Dad and me....I know that it's a horrible thought but.....what if that's the case? What if there are no other Eltarians out there to find? What if...._Dad and I really are the last Eltarians?_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

After taking a good long nap, I went to look for the others. _They have to be warned, in case Goldar or the Tengu go after them....I certainly wouldn't put it past them._ As I passed by a window in the hall, I stopped and looked out. Space. It looked so quiet and peaceful, a contrast to what was going on the many different planets where battles were being fought. I sighed, wishing that my life was like space: Quiet, peaceful, no battles to fight in, no grief or guilt. I took a step back and saw my reflection staring back at me, my reflection. I saw that I had finally grown into my adult face, my eyes showed intelligence and strength. I blinked and scowled, I became angry with myself for falling underneath one of Goldar's spells despite all of my intelligence and strength. I had made a vow that would never happen ever again, and yet.... I still managed to be put under. _Damn it Karmer! Are you asking for any of this? Are you asking to be turned into that monster again? To hunt down your friends and finish what you started two years ago?_ I pictured myself changing into that same monster, attacking my friends. My mind became filled of thier horrified looks on their faces, recognizing the monster that stood before them to be the one that killed Aisha, I pictured them morphing, fighting me, yelling out their rage and grief at losing thier friend at my talons and finally killing me. Would I revert back to my true form, thereby showing the othersthat it had been I along? Or would I be nothing but ashes? And when they look for me to talk about how they had finally gotten _their_ revenge, how would it hit them when they realized that I could not be found? Would it take them hours to finally realize just _who_ they had killed? I smiled grimly to myself as I pictured the aftermath, they would be shocked and shaken to the core that they had actually killed one of their own. They would be devastated so much that they would want to run from their grief and guilt. And what about Dex? Would he be so enraged that he himself would want to hunt down his former allies and make them pay for killing the love of his life? Would Tommy and the others willingly give up their lives, so as not to live with the pain or the guilt, or would they put up a fight and try to make Dex understand that they hadn't had any idea that it was really me?

And how would Dex himself react when he would be told that I was the one that killed Aisha? I lowered my head as I pondered that thought. _In a way......if I am killed in monster form by my friends.....all the pain and suffering that I have caused them and the rookies will end indefinitely. I am the one that started it all._

After what seemed like hours I finally reached the bridge, I gave a slight start when I saw that everyone was there including Andros. All of them turned when I stepped in.

"Oh good, all of you are here....TJ did you tell them about the battle on Eltar?" He didn't answer. I turned back to the others.

"Listen TJ and I were just attacked by Goldar and his Tengu Warriors..."

"Uh..Amy?" said Carlos. I waved him away.

"Later Carlos, we managed to beat them off....."

"Amy."

"Not now Carlos. Goldar will probably retaliate by attacking us when we are alone probably when we are on Earth...."

"Amy."

"I said later Carlos, so I want everyone to be on the look out for them and if you happen to run into them....."

"AMY!" shouted everyone.

"What?" I yelled. Suddenly I took a step back in surprise as Astromena came striding toward me from behind Andros.I stared at her. _Astromena? Here? How?_ I glanced at my team mates, they weren't in morph, but their bodies were tense. Then I found my voice .

"Hey! Nice work guys you've captured Astronema, this'll give us a chance to find out where Zordon is. If she's really important to the forces of evil I'm sure that'll we'll be able to make a trade with Dark Specter." I became excited. _Finally, if Dark Specter agrees to a trade then this entire nightmare will end_, _my father and I....we'll be able to fight side by side to end the war on Edenio and finally free the planet....then_.... My heart filled with excitement and longing to get my life back again, to finally live the life that I had to put on hold for so long.....my thoughts trailed to Dex, Edenio and our marriage...._and after that peace.....real peace.....we are so close. _I snapped to attention when Andros spoke.

"Amy." he said with slight coldness in his voice.

"She's not a prisoner." I looked at him in surprise. "She came here because I invited her." I stared at him.

"Y-you invited her? Onto the ship? Right after I kicked her butt a few days ago?" Astronema glared at me.

"Am I the _only _one that thinks that this is a little insane?" TJ stepped forward and opened his mouth..

"Believe me Amy, the rest of us are as surprised as you are, more surprised when Andros told us that Astronema is actually his long lost sister, Karone." I began to splutter.

"Whoa whoa, freeze TJ, rewind and repeat that....Astronema is......is Andros's sister?"

"It's true." Andros looked at me, I noticed for the first time that the others were looking at Astronema/Karone with distrust on their faces, some of it was aimed at Andros as well. He explained about the locket, how Karone had been wearing it on the day she had been kidnaped as a young child, after taking it off from around Astronema's neck and recognizing it Andros had put two and two together, both of them had met and Andros had invited her onto the ship. A look of pure excitement at having found someone that had been lost to him for so long was shining on his face. I had to bring him back to reality.

"Andros, I really hate to burst your bubble here, but how can you be sure that she is your sister? Karone could have been very well killed after the kidnaping and her locket stolen and kept as a souvenir. Astromena could have tricked you to be brought onto the ship, so she could scope out any of our weaknesses and use them against us." Andros 's eyes flashed and he took a step toward me, I stood my ground and glared at him. The others were moving closer to Astronema, ready to grab her if she made a move.

"She really is my sister, I can feel it, in fact I know it!" he snarled.

"Yeah," I snapped back getting angry that an enemy was in the headquarters of the Power Rangers, the last time that had happened all of us had nearly been killed. I saw Astronema was looking at me with surprise written on her face.

"Well, what about the rest of us? _We_ only know her as "Astronema" we don't know her as Karone." The others nodded in agreement.

"Do I have to prove to all of you that she really is my sister and not some imposter? Do all of you have no trust in what I say?" he looked around at the rest of the team in disbelief, they all looked away, I looked at them angrily. _Am I the only one that....Jesus... _Taking a deep breath to calm down I spoke softly.

"It's not just for us Andros, but for you too. If we can prove that she really is your long lost sister then, we're happy for you. But if she isn't and it turns out your sister is...."

"She is not dead! She's standing right here!" He pointed at Astronema. I tried to make him understand what I was saying.

"All I'm saying is that we preform a DNA test that way we'll know that what you saying is the truth and you haven't wasted half of your life searching for a person that is no longer alive." Andros looked at me, then he turned his head and look at Astronema. She looked back at him and nodded.

"Okay." he finally said turning back to me.

"Okay, but first, she has to be restrained." TJ said matter-of-factly. Andros's head jerked toward him.

"What? No!" He protested, he stepped quickly in front of Astronema. Cassie walked up to Andros and touched his shoulder lightly.

"Please understand Andros." He was silent a moment, then gave a sigh and nodded. I glanced toward Astronema, I cocked my head to one side, silently asking her if she wouldn't mind. She looked at me and shook her head, I gave a slight nod, then turned to Carlos. After he left the room to find something to bind Astronema with, we all stood around her, Andros was more closer to her, his shoulder brushing hers. Carlos came back a while later, with a pair of shackles, he hesitated a bit when he approached Astronema, but she held out her hands and he locked the shackles onto her wrists. After that was done the DNA test was preformed, taking a single hair from both Astronema, and Andros A-6 placed both of them on a tray that went into a computer. On screen the two strands of hair were being scanned, on their right were pictures of the DNA strands, as I watched I stole a glance at Andros, the guy looked worried. Instantly I felt sorry for him, I didn't mean to make him question his own feelings about his sister but....._this has to be done. If she isn't really Karone, Andros will be heart broken that he had wasted so much of his life searching for her. But if she really is who Andros says she is....._ I glanced at Astronema, her expression was unreadable as she watched the screen. I turned back to the computer as the words **"Match"** began to flash on and off on screen. Andros let out a sigh of relief, Astronema too, looked relieved. A few moments later she was moved to the Engine Room, we needed a moment for this news to sink in, I left the others, I had to be by myself for a bit. I was sorry that Zhane wasn't here, but recently he had taken off to help some survivors of the attack of KO-35, we had no idea when he would be rejoining us. Speaking of which I began to wonder myself if dad and I _were_ really the only Eltarians left. After the war with Rita Repulsa and the attack of Count Dregon, dad had told me that he couldn't say for sure, he had scanned many galaxies searching for survivors using the Command Center's computers, but he didn't find anything.

A while later I had rejoined my team mates in the bridge, I was sitting in a chair with a slight head-ache, luckily I healed it away. I looked up at TJ

"So Andros wants to talk to us, ya think that this'll have something to do with Astronema?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, all he said was that we wanted all of us to gather in the bridge." TJ was silent for a moment.

"Listen Amy. Back on Eltar, what happened between you and Goldar when you guys were in that force field thing?" I saw that the others had turned their heads slightly in our direction. I turned my attention back to TJ and cleared my throat.

"Goldar attempted to put me underneath a spell, he used my.....dislike....of the way that my life had turned ever since I became a Ranger to try to make me destroy my morpher then go after my friends...." He was staring at me.

"He was trying to....?" _Her eyes turned red_. He remembered, he had seen.

"I was able to fight it off by remembering the love that I had for them, all of them and how they've helped me." I smiled a little, grateful that I had such great friends, who, even if they weren't fighting beside me, they were with me. _I'll have to visit them._ All of us turned as the door to the bridge opened and Andros stepped in, with Astronema right behind him, they stopped right in front TJ and the others, I rose from my chair and limped over, I glanced over at Astronema, her shackles where no longer on her. I crossed my arms and looked at Andros.

"Okay, so what is this about Andros?" He looked a tad nervous but he glanced at Astronema. She stepped forward.

"I want to help you, I know where Dark Specter is keeping Zordon. I want to take you to him." My body stiffened._ She wants to help us rescue dad? After all the times she's prevented us from ever reaching him?_ Instinct told me not to trust her, that this could all be a trap. Thankfully the others thought the same thing.

"You want to help us?" asked Cassie, she was looking at Astronema as if she were demented.

"Why should we trust you? A few days ago you were trying to kill us!" snapped Carlos. A glow of pride went through me. _Spoken like true Rangers._

"Just give us the coordinates to Zordon's location. _We_ will go and rescue Zordon." said TJ in a low voice.

"Actually," said Astronema "if you go by yourselves you'll have trouble even getting near the planet, it's surrounded by a force field, I can get Dark Specter to lower it." The others and I looked at each other. There was a pretty good chance that she could be lying....but on the other hand....it's the first good lead that we've had on Dad for months......on the other hand....Dark Specter could already know of this attempted rescue and be waiting for us..... But this opportunity is just too good to pass up. I could tell by the others looks that they too were struggling with the decision.

After what seemed like hours, TJ finally stepped toward Astronema.

"Okay, so....where is Zordon?" A faint look of surprise lit her face, Andros gave a small nod.

"In the Curac galaxy, on the jungle planet of Yutuba." I took a breath then let it out as TJ ordered DECA to set the coordinates. Despite my misgivings, about whether or not we were going to get out of this alive, my heart began pumping fast. I was longing to see my dad, to free him from that prison, to share with him all that had happened during his absence. To rekindle the bond that we use to have. _I just hope that we're making the right decision. _As we neared the planet, Andros pulled out five shackles, I took a step back, remembering the last time those things have been slapped on me. TJ, Cassie and Carlos gave Andros a questioning look.

"If we are going to pull this off, then we have to let Dark Specter think that she's" he nodded toward Astronema "captured us." I was giving the shackles a dark look.

"I don't know Andros, what if someone on that planet sees through the act. There's no telling what we'll be facing down there." I said. Andros looked at all of us.

"If you won't trust Karone, then...trust me plus do it for Zordon." We continued to look at each other uneasily, then after taking a deep breath, I limped forward and held out my arms.

"I would walk through hell and back for Zordon." I simply said as Andros put the shackles on my wrists, they closed with a _snap!_ I turned and faced the others, one by one they stepped forward and the shackles were placed on them as well. Standing in a line, with Astronema in front of us, in full view of the screen, she asked A-6 to open up a communications link, which he did and patched us through to Dark Specter. As soon as he came on screen I bowed my head and tried to look submissive and weak

"Dark Specter forgive me for my absence I've been busy, as you can see I've managed to capture all five Rangers."

"Excellent! You have done well, bring them to me at once. I am lowering the force field." My mind prickled with unease but we had to go through this....to save dad. Dark Specter blinked off the screen, I frantically got the shackles off of my wrists and shuddered.

"Okay, everyone, DS will probably send an escort, we follow them and they'll lead to where he is and to Zordon." Cassie turned to look at me.

"How do you know that there'll be escorts?" asked Astronema. In answer I pointed to the screen of my miniature computer, which I had pulled out, on the grid were two little blips that were coming toward us. She looked at me and nodded.

"Who's DS?" asked Carlos.

"Short for Dark Specter."

"Ah." They all said. Unfortunately visibility on the planet was close to zilch, there were dark clouds above us and lighting struck every few seconds. The Veloci fighters that were our escorts kept by our side as we tried to maneuver in the hostile atmosphere. Taking no chances to being stuck by the lighting and never getting of the planet alive, TJ, who was at the controls, began to lower the ship, the landing was a little rough but overall we were A-OK. There were groans around me as everyone picked themselves off of the floor.

"Everyone all right?" asked Carlos.

"Define alright." I muttered. After struggling to our feet we all looked around and realized that Astronema was missing. Andros looked around as well and staggered toward the hall yelling for her, we all followed him.

"DECA do you know where she went?" called Andros.

"Surveillance indicate that Astronema went into the Engine Room." DECA replied. Arriving there we noticed a panel at the very back of the Room was hanging open. _It must have opened due to the impact of the crash. Three guesses people, where Astronema went._ I thought angrily. Andros looked crestfallen. TJ stepped forward and looked out of the opening, I was slightly surprised to see sunlight. Glancing out as well, I saw nothing but vegetation: Trees with overhanging branches and leaves that were long and big in width and bushes that had large leaves that nearly covered the ground. _Any thing could be hiding behind every bush_, I limped over to TJ and stepped out of the ship, the others followed on high alert. Andros came last. I didn't want to voice what I was thinking, not out loud, but since Astronema had a good head start she could have already alerted Dark Specter. _He could be gathering his forces to attack and ambush us, they could have already.....no, I must not think that...dad has to be on this planet still. _Panic rose within me that I tried to fight down.

We hadn't gone far when my mini computer began to beep, Darkonda and a horde of Piranhatrons leaped out of the trees above us.

"Well well, what do we have here?" He luaghed.

"Let's rocket!" shouted TJ. _Funny, I was half expecting Goldar._ I thought as I began to spin and kick up dust. As soon as I had stopped and the dust had settled we were all in morph and kicking butt. Racing at the Pirahantrons I cocked back my fist, connected with a Pirahantron stomach, then an uppercut that sent it to the ground, leaping over it's body I preformed a tornado kick in mid-air sending another flying right smack into a tree, I sent another crashing to the ground as I punched it then turned my body a full 360 then landed a kick to it's face. Landing on the ground, I preformed as low sweeping kick knocking a Piranhatron off of its feet, leaping up, I delivered a high kick to one that was foolish enough to get too near. _I wonder if they're paid to act this stupid._ I thought as I continued to fight, with each and every punch that I was throwing, with every kick, I was getting angry....more than angry...I was getting pissed. Here we are probably mere feet from saving dad and these guys show up to block our way, dad could very well be moved again to another location then we would be back to square one. Knocking one flat I stopped and looked around, at the other Piranhatron and Darkonda. They were kicking Cassie and the others butts. I morphed into a silver puddle and shot forward, weaving in and out of the army, Darkonda and my team mates all turned when they heard the Piranhatrons giving out gurgling yells, they fell on their backs and didn't get up. Darkonda, with a slight grin on his face, warped. Suddenly I shot upward and slammed into something full and hard, Darkonda let out a surprised yell as he reappeared and fell, but he vanished almost immediately, I shot down ward then made a sharp right, there came a sound like boulders crashing into each other. Both of us had collided in mid-air. He warped again and tried to knock me out of the sky but I kept with him, colliding with him, kept on fighting him while he was in warp mode. It was weird, but even through he was practically invisible and moved at incredible speeds.....I could keep up with him, in fact I _could see him._ I swear to god I....I could see him!_ Could this be another Eltairan power that has awoken? After all of this time? But why now? And why does this....feel familiar...almost natural? Have I done this before and have not realized it? Maybe dad can answer my questions...if we ever get to him in time._ I thought drily as I materialized in midair and caught Darkonda with a beautiful uppercut, he materialized in front of me with a rather shocked look on his face as he slammed into the ground. I continued to float there and watched as the Piranhatrons turned tail and ran, a couple of them went back and began to drag Darkonda away. I floated down to the ground and stood in front of my awed teammates. I looked around, suddenly realizing that Andros had vanished.

"Hey, where's Andros?" My question snapped them out of their trance.

"We don't know, we were too busy fighting that...." Carlos trailed off, Cassie was twisting her head left and right.

I had already whipped out my computer and led the way to Andros's location. We reached the spot where Andros was. Astronema was standing not too far away, surrounding Andros were Darkonda, the Piranahatrons, and also Dark Spector! The others saw them but as for me, it was like they weren't even there! Instead my eyes locked onto Astronema's, rage boiled within me. Dad wasn't even here!! It had been a trap! Set up by her! I raced forward, Astronema stepped away and raised her staff and aimed it toward me, I leaped, Andros gave a shout in my direction, I ignored him. A purple beam of energy flew my way, I concentrated, stopped it and sent it right back at her, she dodged to the left, when she looked again, I had already slammed into her. We both began to roll on the ground finally coming to a stop, Astronema's staff had flown from her hand, but her hands were busy tried to loosen my hands from around her neck.

"You led us into a trap! You...." I cried out as I was blasted away. I staggered to my feet and so did Astronema, she was coughing, trying to get her breath back. Letting out a gasp she raised her head and stared at me, then her expression changed to one of fear as she saw me power up.

"Nobody....but nobody....double crosses me!" I shouted as my hands glowed, I ran toward her, leapt up, pulled back my hands and prepared to fire when out of the corner of my eye I saw that my team mates were being overwhelmed by the Piranahatrons and Darkonda. Dark Specter had vanished, right at that moment, that was irrelevant. Astronema was mine....._but first_...."Power Blast!" I shouted directed my hands toward the ground, the Blast went into the ground and raced toward the circle of enemies, kicking up dust as it went, finally having reaching Darkonda and Co. It exploded! They went flying through the air, and landed on the ground. After staggering to thier feet and thinking that they would live longer Darkonda and Co. vanished. I turned back to Astronema, she had watched her allies desert her, now she turned back to me. She let out a little scream as she dived out of the way of my Blast, it exploded a few feet behind her. She was about to get to her feet when she was grabbed by the front of her uniform and lifted up. I glared at her.

"You trap didn't work." I snarled, I began to shake her.

"Amy stop!" I ignored the cries of my team mates, suddenly feeling angry toward them, all of them...._they are just too damn trusting! Too naive! It's a wonder that we are still here at all! _My hand tighten on the front of Astronema's uniform, I lifted her higher.

"Did you really think that a few weak Piranhatrons and a psycho hit man could stop us? Could stop me? Your boss was here, and he didn't put up a fight!" I let out a bark of a laugh.

"All the big bosses that I have ever faced put up more than a fight than Dark Spector, Lord Zedd, King Mondo, Prince Gasket even Divatox did more than just stand there and laugh idiotically."

"Amy release her this instant!"

"I can tolerate the big bosses letting their warriors doing all of their dirty work for them, heck I'll even tolerate all of them not participating in any of the battles because their too weak to dirty their own hands! But what I _won't_ tolerate.....is being double crossed....especially on the whereabouts of my mentor Zordon of Eltar. Now you had better tell me where he really is, before I ram my sword down your throat!" I yelled angrily. I saw a hand fly my way, instinctively I ducked, I felt someone else wrap a hand around my Astro Morpher, next thing I knew my suit vanished, I looked down in surprise.

"What the?" My head jerked to the left, I felt the sting of a slap, stumbling back I dropped Astronema.

"I gotcha Karone." I looked up, and was surprised and irritated to see that _they_ were around Astronema in a protective circle and were glaring at me.

"Will someone explain to me what in the name of hell......?" I started angrily. Cassie snapped at me.

"She didn't know about the attack! She didn't know that Darkonda or an army of Piranhatrons were going to be here."

"What did she expect? That Dark Specter was _not_ going to have guards ready and waiting to escort us to his fortress or to try to stop us if we tried to make a break for it? THINK ROOKIES!" I screamed at them.

"BUT SHE DIDN'T KNOW THAT DARK SPECTER SOMEHOW KNEW THAT KARONE HAD BETRAYED HIM!!!"

"ANDROS YOU IDIOT! OF COURSE HE KNEW! He knew of the beginning." They let out gasps and were staring at me, I was glaring at them, tears of frustration were streaming down my face. _Another wasted day! Another freaking wasted day!_

"How did you....? started TJ. I exploded again.

"ROOKIE! Anybody with brains knows full well that it takes an entire army to take down the Power Rangers, not just one woman with a powerful stick. He saw us long enough to see that we didn't _look_ beaten or defeated!"

"WE'RE NEW TO THIS WHOLE THING ALRIGHT! " shouted TJ.

"ALL OF YOU HAVE BEEN RANGERS LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT'S WHAT IN THIS WAR, A MAN'S LIFE IS AT STAKE HERE, THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSE IS RESTING ON OUR SHOULDERS AND ALL OF YOU ARE ACTING LIKE......LIKE YOU HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA!" TJ and I glared at each other, to the others it looked as if the argument was going to exchange into blows. I was panting hard, I began to hate them, hating their naivety, hating that they actually were trusting Astronema when just a few moments ago they didn't trust her, hating the fact that they were....somehow blind...to the fact that not every person that had once worked for the forces of evil can be trusted just because they saw that they are the sibling of a Ranger, or because they just saved the lives of the entire team. That sometimes, if you were captured by the enemy, there was a pretty good chance that, because you were a Ranger, you wouldn't be getting out of the situation alive _Trust has to be earned, it should not immediately be given_.

"Look," said TJ looking struggling to stay calm.

"I'm sorry that we didn't find Zordon and I'm sorry that we walked into this trap, but at least we're not getting off this planet with nothing: we have a new friend," I struggled to not to curl my lip into sneer.

"With Karone's help," _Karone? _"we'll be able to locate Zordon's whereabouts, she knows all the best hiding spots that Dark Spector might have taken him." I continued to stare at him, at all of them, suddenly feeling drained, more than drained. I felt empty inside, as if someone had scooped everything out of my body and just left me with the emotion of depressing sadness and rage. My shoulders sagged, and my knees bent a bit, I was feeling tired, I was tired of this long chase, I was tired of dealing with these.....these kids. _Didn't they have any idea what they were dealing with here? How much was at stake? _Turning I began to limp back in the direction of the ship, I didn't even look back to see whether or not they were following, but I distinctly heard Cassie say to Astronema "Thank you"

_I guess they_ _have no idea. _


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I decided to get far away from the rookies and Astronema and cool down. Knowing me, if I was angry enough, I would probably do or say something that I would later regret and cause further friction to the team.

My first thought was to go to the site of the destroyed Power Chamber but, decided against it. After a few minutes of searching, I was able to find a little lonely mountain on the outskirts of Angel Grove. From the view that I was seeing, I could see all of the city and a bit of Leawood beyond. Making my self comfortable on the ground I thought of my friends and wondered what they were doing right now. Anger and resentment welled up inside of me almost immediately. _They have no worries whatsoever of being attacked by a psychotic ape and his chickens, they don't have any worries about whether their father is even alive at this point or whether he hasn't gone completely insane while inside the prison that he just barely escaped from._ _No, they're busy going on their normal lives, without a care in the world about what happens to their mentor, and why should they? They choose to leave, to become normal, they didn't have to stick around because they had a death price on their head due to killing an enemy's master, they didn't have to stick around to ensure the safety of a bunch of rookies, only to have those same rookies turn against you when they found out that I had worked along side the Dark Forces, was one of them! _

I shook my head, irritably I began to reason with myself. _What did you expect? For your friends to remain on active duty even after they gave up their powers?_ _No._ I answered myself after a long moment. _No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't want them to keep putting their lives on hold even if _....._I asked them to.....even if I _wanted_ them here with me. Fighting by my side instead of......._I jumped when I heard a rumbling sound, glancing up I saw dark storm clouds, heavy with rain. The wind began to pick up, I turned my face back to the scene before me. _Even though, I want my friends to become Rangers again, I know that's impossible, Aisha must have had....enough power to turn me back into a Zeo Ranger, but I don't think that even she'll be able to give Tommy and the others their morphing powers back. _I thought for a minute. _Maybe she won't, after all the stuff that they've been through.....they deserve a break, more than a break. _Rain began to pour out of the clouds, I raised my face upward, eyes closed, I let it run down my face, my hair and soak into my clothes.

I imagined that the rain was washing away all of my problems: the problems with my team mates, Astronema, Goldar, my frustrations at our dead leads and near misses. I put my head down and began to laugh. As soon as I began laughing I didn't stop, I laughed until my sides hurt, until I couldn't tell if it was the drops of rain or if it was my tears that were running down my face. I laughed until my laughs finally turned into sobs. _It's hopeless, everything, this entire mission....its hopeless._ I pulled my knees up to my chest and put my head down on my knees while my entire body shook with sobs. After several minutes I stopped and sat there for a minute panting and sniffing, I lifted up my head and put my chin on my knees. I let out a sigh and wiped rain from my eyes and continued to stare out into the distance.

"Amy?" I jumped, turning my head I was surprised to see...

"Dex? Chopper?" I wiped the tears and rain from my eyes and brushed my hair back, Dex was walking toward me, Chopper followed a bit behind.

"What are you guys doing here? How did you know that I was up here?" Dex had a small smile on his face though his eyes showed concern.

"Call it future-husband-to-be instinct. I sensed that you were troubled, mentally not physically." I blinked and looked at him while slowly standing up. He came near me. Folding his arms around me he held me close, I laid my head on his chest and we stood there silent, letting the rain fall down, soaking the both of us, but I was past caring and I'm pretty sure Dex was too, I was just glad that he was holding me.

"Dex..." I said softly.

"Yes."

"I'm scared." It took a minute to respond, his voice was full of surprise.

"Of what?"

"Of the outcome of this war." Dex waited, feeling that whatever I was going to say had been on my mind for quite some time.

"Do we really know what the outcome is going to be? How do we know that after this the people that we have been trying to save, will be saved?" Dex tighten his hold on me. He could feel my entire body shaking, my voice began to crack and break, Chopper moved more closer so that his front wheel was touching the foot of my shoe.

"What if after everything we've tried, everything we've done, all the leads that we've followed....all the monsters and henchmen and bosses that we fight, who are blocking us from ever getting to him....what if in the end it leads us to....." I closed my eyes tightly unwilling to say it but thinking it at the same time. My hold tighten on him, I was trembling so hard that even Dex was shaking slightly. _What if ......we fail to save dad? What if.......after everything that we've been through...all the battles that we've fought to try to get to him.....we find...._ Tears were streaming down my eyes.

"I don't want that Dex, I don't want to bury another parent, there is still so much that we have to do, so much more bonding, talking, questions that I want to ask him. I want to get to know him more better." I looked up at him, he saw that my eyes were shining with tears.

"I–I never really knew my mother. Oh, I knew some things about her, like her favorite songs and her favorite Television shows and her favorite color, but nothing past the surface. I wasn't even sure what she herself had to go through a-after the crash and whether or not she was able to contact dad, let him know that we were all right, I don't even know she even knew that I was a Power...." I couldn't stand it anymore I began to cry again. _Why did I never ask them those questions? Why did I never get to know them better? They were my parents god dammit! The life that I lead, I knew that it had consequences but....I didn't think that the consequences would stretch to so far. That the hatred could spread so far and could touch so many people, ruin a lot of lives, take away families......I never thought that Goldar would, in a million years, be able to hurt me like this, how he could bring up all these feelings of frustration, doubt, grief and anger within me. _

"You'll find him, you'll save him Amy. I know you will. You have to believe that, you've got to. You won't bury another parent, you won't lose anymore people to those monsters, I'll help you Amy. Just like you've helped me protect Leawood and it's people and Edenio. I'll do the same to you, I'll help you find him, I swear it." Dex said to me with a defiant and almost angry tone in his voice. Chopper revved up a bit.

"Ditto Amy." He said. I lifted up my head looked at him then at Dex.

"Thank you, the both of you."

"Hey, anytime." Chopper said. I hugged the both of them.

Later, Dex and I were walking down the mountainside, Dex was on my left holding my hand, Chopper was on my right. I was telling them all that had went on, from the revelation that Astronema was Andros's long lost sister, how she told us where dad was being held, going to the planet and walking into that trap, the battle with Darkonda, and my attack on Astronema and my outburst.

"I seem to be biting off _their_ heads off every time we fail to rescue dad, or just miss him. I'm angry at them because while we slowly follow lead after freaking lead dad is being drained of his power, I-I sometimes wish that instead of TJ, Carlos, Cassie and Andros it would be Tommy, Kat, Adam and Rocky fighting beside me against Ecliptor, the Piranhatrons, Goldar and his Tengu Warriors, if my friends were with me instead of the rookies then maybe we could have found dad by now." Dex glanced at me.

"Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that if Tommy and the others had still remained Rangers that this entire nightmare that you're going through would end that quickly? Amy, I know you probably don't want to hear this but.....even _if_ Tommy and the others were still with you....the results would still be the same. You would still be frustrated about the results that you're getting _and_ you would still be lashing out at them." I turned my head toward Dex, eyes flashing, then I lowered my eyes to the ground, a feeling of heaviness settled in my stomach at the truth of the words, kicking away a rock I mumbled.

"Yeah, if I'm honest with myself Dex......yeah that would still happen." I gave a sigh.

"All of them are probably frustrated as I am." I finally said after a few moments.

"They don't lash out at each other though, I am the only one that....." Suddenly I laughed out loud. Dex and Chopper turned to me curiously. _Looks like some of Zedd rubbed off on me. _I made a mental note to apologize to all of them _and_ to try not to lash out at them anymore. _If I don't, then the next thing you know, I'll start to have headaches._ I let out a soft chuckle. Concentrating I spread a shield over the three of us, so that we wouldn't get any more wetter than we already were. Dex had a thoughtful look on his face.

"The way you battled Darkonda, you said that it felt familiar to you." he said after a few moments of silence, I glanced up at him and nodded.

"Yeah it did, I must have used that speed on Eltar, on the day that Dregon attacked before I lost my memories."

"Yeah you could have, aliens like us, who have super speed, can move like that at a young age." I looked at him in surprise.

"I used to pull all kinds of pranks and would take off like a bullet, because I didn't want to get caught." He said with a grin. I frowned.

" Dex, I'm half alien, that being said I'm pretty sure that my super speed must have made itself known to me at a later age. The thing that I don't get is that, why did this super speed make itself known now? If I could always move at the speed of a bullet I would have been able to save my Earth parents from Dregon and Zedd."

"That was before you found out you were a half alien plus you had amnesia, so you really couldn't remember that you had that power. "

"Oh yeah."

"Maybe whatever powers you used to have when you were living on Eltar are being triggered by certain events." _Like memories._ Dex walked in silence for a bit

"Could you tell me about the fight between you and Darkonda again and could you please go into detail? You must have sent that dude running for hills." Laughed Dex. Chopper wanted to hear it again as well.

A while later I decided to go back to the ship, I thanked both Dex and Combat Chopper for their help in cheering me up.

"No prob. " Said Chopper. Dex nodded in agreement. Kissing him goodbye and patting Chopper I teleported away. Arriving in the hall just outside of the Engine Room, I took a quick look around.. Breathing a sigh of relief; I was glad that I hadn't met up with any of the others, most especially Astronema. I began to limp down the hall in search of my team mates. _It's not their fault that we aren't any closer to finding dad and freeing him from that prison. They're doing the best they can, and even though I wish for more, that's all that they can do. They're only human after all._ I found them all on the bridge. I hesitated at the doorway, TJ who had spotted me, glared. The others noticed that TJ was looking at something and had also turned their heads. I took a breath, then limped toward them.

"Uh....I just want to say that I'm sorry that I'm constantly yelling at you guys for....for...all of the near misses in saving.....it's just so very frustrating. I know that all of you are trying your best in this war and I'm grateful, truly I am. It's just that....to be honest....I'm beginning to get afraid that when we do finally find him, he'll.....he'll be....." My voice cracked again and I had to really struggle to control it. I turned away trying to hide my tears, I turned my head back when I felt a hand being laid on my shoulder. It was Andros, a look of understanding and sympathy was in his eyes. The others were looking at me with comprehending looks on their faces.

"He'll find him and he'll be alright when we finally do. Zordon's a strong guy, remember what I told you, that it'll be a good long while before his energy is entirely drained, so have faith that we'll find him in an alright state." I smiled and reached up and squeezed his hand, glad for the comfort.

"Thanks Andros, I promise not to yell at you guys anymore." I looked around at all of them, my gaze fell on a girl who had been hiding in the corner. She had blonde shoulder length hair, and was wearing a suit that was almost an exact copy of our suits: gray pants with a line of purple down the side of the pant leg, a gray jacket which covered a purple shirt, on her wrist I saw a communicator. _A new recruit?_ I thought in surprise. I turned to the others.

"Who's the...?" Andros answered while beckoning the girl forward, I extended out my hand as she came closer, she had a nervous look in her eyes. He had a look of excitement on his face.

"You don't recognize her? It's Karone...." I stared at..... Astronema...she looked like an entirely different person... My hand froze in mid-air, for a split second I was speechless. Then coming to I grabbed her hand and shook it, she seemed surprised at the gesture but I released her quickly and took a step back.

"Why is she wearing a suit like ours?" I asked the room at large.

"Well," Cassie said stepping forward and putting an arm around Astronema, I raised an eyebrow.

"It's just our way of thanking her for saving our lives on the planet of Yutube, We" she indicated the boys. "Decided on making her into a Ranger." Resentment shot through me. _You accept her_ _just like that? This girl, who used to work for the Dark Forces, like me, who nearly had all of you killed during every battle and you just forgive her like that! _Anger rose within me which I fought to control and keep my face neutral, I forced a smile on my face.

"Hey, that's great." I looked at Astronema again. I turned to Andros, he had a proud look about his face.

"Where did the extra suit come from?" I asked curiously. He blinked and turned to look at me.

"The ship happened to have one." Was all he said with a hint of confusion.

"Hmm." I turned back to the others, who had surrounded Astronema and were busy chatting with her and acting as if she were an old friend. I felt a twinge of loneliness but pushed it away, at the same time, I couldn't help but be reminded of Kat, how the others accepted her even though she was behind our near destruction, Kimberly loss of the power to morph and my capture. I remembered how I still viewed her as an enemy. But then over time...._I began to trust her, view her as a friend and sister. Will it be the same for Astronema_? I thought for a few moments. I had no really anger or hatred toward Astronema, in fact the only feelings that I had toward her were annoyance and irritation. If I was honest with myself I only saw her and her crew as the warm up act before Goldar would step in. I chuckled.

"What?" asked TJ turning to look at me. I only shook my head.

"That reminds me, where were you anyway? We looked for you everywhere." There was a hint of anger in his voice.

"Sorry about that, I went to the mountains to think, I really didn't want to be disturbed, not for a while anyway."

"Amy, you're dripping all over the carpet." said A-6. I looked down in surprise and indeed saw a small puddle. I blushed a bit.

"Oh, right. Thanks A-6." Excusing myself I limped out into the hallway and into my room, after digging around for some dry clothes I went into the bathroom and after taking a nice warm bath, dried myself, put on my clothes and stepped into my room again. I jumped when I saw who was sitting on my bed: Astronema. I stood stock still and stared at her, she stared back. Deciding to go about my business and act as if she weren't there,(even though I was irritated that she _was _there)I reached for my hair brush that was on my desk and began to brush my hair. The silence between us seemed to stretch on forever, yet I wasn't going to be the one to break it. Finally she was the one that spoke.

"Is it true?" I glanced at her.

"Is what true?" I tried not to snap.

"That you're half human?" I froze, slowly I turned my head to her._ How did she find out? _She had never called me a half human or a dirty half ling in any of our battles. In fact it came as a surprise to me that she was even asking me this question. But then again as far as I can tell the fact that there was a half eltarian half human residing on Earth, had never spread far, the only people that knew about my half heritage were Goldar, Lord Zedd and Count Dregon. _Rita probably knew, though she never spoke about it. In fact she never really came near me. _A thought suddenly made itself known to me. _Did I disgust her somehow? For being half human?_

"Who told you that I was half human?" I had a full length mirror and watched her as she shifted on my bed.

"The–uh Cassie told me that you were." My hand tighten on my brush. I gritted my teeth. _Why would Cassie tell her such a thing? They've barely met her!_ _How do they know that she won't turn against us and use this information to her advantage.....not that I can see how she can use it against me but still..._

"Its true. I am half human."Astronema nodded as though this settled something. _She must have noticed, in battles, how I could beat her and her henchmen_ _easily._

"And your powers, you were born with them?" she asked. Again I stiffened.

Even though it had been obvious in battles to see that I was the only one that could fire a Power Ranger Power Blast at an enemy and control it, plus all the other stuff that I could preform I wanted to hear where she had gotten the information. I wanted to kick whoever told her.

"Andros told me some of the things that you can do." _Blabber mouth. _I thought angrily. _Goldar must not be spreading the word that there is a half Eltarian on the Ranger team, with the same type of powers that dad has, surely, if he had taken the time, Dark Specter would probably be after me as well. _Again this came to me as a surprise. Since Count Dregon had told Zedd about my half heritage, I had always figured that everyone in the galaxy knew. _But then again, Divatox, Gasket, nor Mondo never really voiced any acknowledgment on the subject. _I shrugged my shoulders thinking that to any other psychotic dictator a half alien would be seen as weak, to be not as powerful as a full alien. I turned back to Astronema suddenly wondering if she knew about Goldar and the Tengus. Before we could say anything else to each other though, my door slid open and Andros poked his head in, his eyes lit up when he saw her.

"There you are Karone, Cassie's waiting in the bridge for you." He didn't even glance my way as he ducked out of the room, Astronema stood and made her way to the door. She glanced back at me, but I had already turned my back on her. I only turned back when I heard the door slid close. Sitting down on my bed I began putting on my shoes. _She knows that I'm half human and about my powers, what else did the others tell her? Have they told her about Zordon being my father?_ A sick feeling rose within me at the thought.. _What if she tells Dark Spector? Will he see me as an abomination that has to be exterminated? Will he hurt dad even more as punishment for producing a half breed? Or will he order his army to track me down and steal my power? _I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and stood up. Taking a deep breath to calm myself a giving myself a good shake I turned toward the door thinking that maybe I could pull one of the others aside and question them. I limped out into the hall way.

"DECA where's TJ?"

"TJ is on the bridge along with the others."

"Thanks." Entering the bridge I saw that everyone was around Astronema and talking to her, laughing and smiling. Another rush of resentment went through me. _Why do they treat her like a friend so soon after she pulled that stunt when we crash landed on Yutuube and after various times she attacked and nearly had the others killed? Why is it that they can forgive her easily for her past crimes against us but they can't forgive _me _for my past crimes? _

"Yo! What's up?" said a voice at my side. I started and turned to face A-6.

"Nothing." I said quickly.

"You ain't jealous of Karone are you?" I stared at him as though A-6 had completely lost it, and once again was hit with a wave of longing for my old friend Tentomon, he would have listened to me without making snide remarks.

"No, why would I be jealous? Some people can forgive easily...others can't." I thought of my friends.

"A-6, how much did TJ and the others tell Astro–uh..Karone about me?" He looked at me for a moment.

"Why do you want to know? Why not just asked them yourself? Or better yet ask Karone. I am not your go to guy for answers that you can find out if you ask Andros and the others." I looked down at him angrily.

"I...oh never mind." Irritated I turned away and limped to one of the chairs and sat down. _He's almost as bad as Dimitria._ I turned my head and glanced at my team mates, I caught Astromena's eye, she grinned at me, I forced myself to smile back, it made my face muscles hurt. _Why is she so different from me? How is she so different from me? Are they forgiving toward her mainly because she's Andros's sister? Or.....is it because she's a full alien and not half like me?_ I sat up straighter as the thought went through me, then I shook my head. _I didn't tell them about my being a half alien then....no...it's gotta be something else....or maybe.....like the Rangers before them, they can forgive easily, despite what was done to them by the enemy.....even Kimberly forgave Kat...._ I looked at Astronema and saw that she was looking around the bridge with interest, Andros was beside her, obviously telling her all about the ship, about its strength and weaknesses. My eyes narrow_ed _as I watched her eyes lit up. _The others may forgive her and trust her but I sure don't. Someone on this team has got to be on their toes and be there when a supposed friend or new ally turns out to be an enemy in disguise._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

For the rest of the day I avoided being in the same room with Astronema...or at least tried, but then I figured if I _did_ avoid being in the same room as her the others would surely notice, questions would be asked and accusations would fly, and I really didn't want an re-enactment of the Power Chamber. So, whenever Astronema would walk in to a room, I would only nod to her and greet her in a semi-friendly manner. But otherwise, I would rarely speak to her, luckily the others didn't notice, as they were to busy telling her about where we all came from and such.

I was sitting crossed legged on my bed with a bowl of chocolate ice cream in my lap, every so often I would spoon some into my mouth as I stared at the pictures of my friends,.Dex and my parents. I was angry at my team mates and frustrated that I was the only one that seemed to see Astronema as an active threat. _Don't they realize that by telling her about my half heritage and my powers they are answering any of Astronema's questions that she might have had about me? And since she's the right hand man of Dark Specter, any and all information will be relayed back to him_, _and if that happens Dark Specter will probably send out his armies to hunt me down and capture me. _I smiled grimly to myself._ If I'm captured at least I'll finally be able to see dad. _I looked down at my empty ice cream bowl and frowned. _The only way to really fix this and to stop Astronema from letting Dark Specter know about me is to erase her mind of everything that she's been told and learned.....then I would be safe and so would the others and it would be as if none of this had ever happened......but_ I raised my head slightly and saw my reflection looking back at me_. That would mean hurting Andros in the worst way, making his sister forget who she is, who _he is_...all those years of searching that's he had to go through.....to finally find her and then to loss her again._ I looked down at my empty bowl again, remembering how happy Andros was at finally finding her, how the both of them started to reconnect as brother and sister, I thought about the way Andros eyes and face would light up whenever she would enter the room. _Can I really be the one that extinguishes that light? To put him back into that dark and lonely place where he was always searching and not coming up with anything? No, I can't. I can't do that to him even if it means that Astronema will have all the information that she needs to take us down, that sort of pain will be nothing compared to......_I leaned against the wall and breathed out slowly._ No easy answer to this one is there? _Andros had told me what had gone on between her, Andros and Ecliptor. Apparently Ecliptor had confronted Astronema and Andros but had released them, because as, she had once said, "He had raised me, he was like a teacher to me....and a father" I had raised an eyebrow at this, once again expressing disbelief that these guys, who could wipe out entire civilizations, destroy planets and enslave innocent people, could actually have.....feelings. They didn't know what had happened to him after they ran past him but I had a pretty rough idea. He had kept his.....act of mercy a secret lest Dark Specter found out, punished him or had him killed for showing weakness. _Can't keep a secret like that from your master, and I should know._ I glanced at the door as it slid open, then sat up straight as Astronema stepped in. She stood in the doorway, looking rather nervous. I looked at her coldly.

"What?" She blinked then took a breath.

"I was just wondering why you don't seem to accept me like the others do." Now it was my turn to blink, I turned away for a bit. She stepped further into the room and walked over to my desk. For a moment she just looked at her reflection. I kept looking anywhere but at her. I whipped my eyes back toward her when she suddenly asked

"Who are these people?" She was holding a picture of my friends and I. I leapt off the bed and limped toward her.

"Could you not touch my stuff please?" I said in a semi polite voice. I reached out a hand to take the picture away from her.

"Sorry." She said. I returned the picture to it's rightful place.

"Why are you in my room anyway?" I snapped, half expecting her to say "You intrigue me." She looked nervously at me then averted her eyes.

"It's just that I've uh......have never known a half human half alien before..." She faltered when she saw me staring at her.

"A–and I was just curious." She finished rather lamely._ She's curious about...me? No wonder she's asking all of these questions. But why should she? She must have at least some data about me? Unless...she doesn't. Maybe she's the type of villain that thinks that gathering data against your enemies is a big waste of time._ _This is a good thing....makes me unpredictable to her. _I turned away from her and began to fold away the creases on my bed but what she said next made me stop.

"You didn't answer my first question: Why do you not trust me nor accept me like the others have?" I straighten up slowly, turned and looked at her. She had her arms crossed and was meeting my gaze. I was about to open my mouth and tell her off when the doors slid open and Andros appeared in the doorway panting a bit.

"What's up?" I asked as Astronema ran over to him.

"Dark Spector.....he knows that Karone's turned traitor...both of you come to the bridge." Astronema and Andros turned toward the hall and took off, I stayed a bit and thought. _So he knows, someone must have seen Ecliptor allow Astronema and Andros to escape_, _Dark Spector must have punished Ecliptor for allowing that to happen. No doubt he's going to punish Astronema as well for turning against him and the rest of us for taking her in. _I limped out the door and began to make my way toward the bridge. _Better be ready for anything._ As I entered Dark Spector was still addressing the Rangers.

"Return the traitor Astronema to me Rangers and I will spare you."

"Oh, I highly doubt that." I snapped before I could stop myself. The others turned toward me then turned back to the screen

"I'm glad you said that." Dark Specter said as the alarm rang, and the ship suddenly lurched to the left causing all of us to lose our balance and fall.

"What was that?" asked Cassie as we all got to our feet again.

"An asteroid, which is on a direct course to Earth, return Astronema and I will divert the asteroid's course if you don't......" he let the threat hang and the screen went blank only to be replaced by a picture of the asteroid hurtling toward Earth.

"DECA bring the asteriod on screen, give me a read out on how big it is." I ordered. But Andros was already calling out orders of his own.

"Set a course for that asteroid, channel all power to the ship's lasers. Let's blast this thing into a million pieces." The others began to do as he instructed, rolling my eyes I took out my computer and began to tap the keys bringing up a picture of the asteroid and the length it really was.

"Whoa." I breathed, my heart began to beat double time as I pictured the damage that it could cause to the planet or worse to Angel Grove itself. Luckily though it was still pretty far away from the Earth and that granted me some relief.

"Amy, in case you haven't noticed....." started A-6, but I was busily waving him away. I limped toward TJ to show him just how big this....thing was when he and Cassie confirmed that we had caught up with the asteroid and were prepared to fire. I faltered and let my arm that had my computer swing to my side. Shaking my head I began to try to get the attention of the others but they weren't even listening to me! We got close enough to the asteroid to really appreciate the full size of it, which made the Astro Mega Ship's lasers seem like pea shooters. I glanced at the others and was amazed that they couldn't or wouldn't see just how useless the lasers were going to be on the asteroid. Finding an unoccupied chair I sat down and waited.

"Fire!" Shouted Andros. The lasers were fired and everyone's eyes were on screen, holding their breath, and as the smoke cleared...

"It didn't work." said Cassie in a disappointed voice, Carlos and TJ both made frustrated movements. I smirked despite myself. _Naturally_. Andros stared at the screen for a bit longer, a worried look on his face which changed to determination.

"Come on...I've got an idea." I got off of my chair when everyone began to turn and headed out the door. Andros stayed a bit behind to say something to Astronema, then he joined us as we went down the hall, he explained what his plan was while we went to a room and collected a large box.

"We'll use detonators and plant them at strategic points around the asteroid, that should blow it in half, then we'll attack both of them with the lasers." He said as we teleported to the surface of the asteroid and began to remove the detonators from the boxes.

"I hope this works." said Cassie in a worried voice. I kept looking around for any signs of trouble, as soon as the detonators left their box, Darkonda appeared with a couple of Piranhatrons. _Why am I not surprised?_

"Andros, you and the others plant the bombs, I'll take care of Laughing Boy and his guppies."

"They're not bombs....." started TJ.

"Fine whatever, just get going!" I barked. The others grabbed a bomb each and took off. I turned back to Darkonda and pulled out my sword.

"Spread out, find the others I'll take care of her myself." He ordered, but before the Piranhatrons could even move they were flung high into the air. Darkonda watched them as they flew higher and higher until they were out of sight. Then he turned back to me, a slow grin came on his face. Before I could blink he had vanished, I stood stock still for a minute...then vanished as well. At first all was silent. A second later there came the sounds of crashes and bangs, two streaks of light: one yellow another dark red collided with each other then ricocheted into two different directions, the two lights landed on the ground then raced at each other, we passed each other then leaped into the air. I quickly materialized, powered up and fired while I was in the middle of a flip.

"Power Blast!" The Blast made for its target, Darkonda dodged it at the last second and disappeared again, I vanished as well and my Power Blast suddenly stopped and hovered in mid-air. The sounds and cries of battle rang through the air, the Power Blast suddenly raced forward just as Darkonda appeared, a split second later both them collided. Darkonda crashed onto the ground, dust rose up into the air. I soon materialized, panting hovering above, I rubbed my arm and rotated my left shoulder. _That was some punch, this guy seems more stronger than he looks._ I looked down and saw that Darkonda wasn't there anymore. I stiffened and looked around. _Where'd he go?_ My computer began to beep. I was about to turn when he appeared behind me, grabbed me around the waist and sent us both hurtling toward the ground. I quickly morphed into liquid and slipped from his grasp, shooting upward and materialized I slammed him in the back with a Ranger Kick. He yelled as he was slammed once again into ground. Just then I turned when I heard an explosion in the distance, _Andros and the others! _I was about to go to the spot where the explosions occurred when I felt a hand grab my ankle.

"What the?" Looking down into Darkonda's face, I began to try to kick him off of me, he grabbed my other ankle, as I struggled to shake him off, he quickly released my ankles and grabbed onto my wrists.

"Hey!" I yelped struggling to free myself, it took me a second to notice that I could still move my hands! Turning my palms toward him, I almost laughed at his expression.

"Power Ranger Power Blast!" He released me and dodged the Blast, I flew toward him, spun in the air and landed a good mighty kick on him. Once agin he flew toward the asteroid's surface, but he managed to stop his descent and vanished. I looked around, my computer beeped, I glanced down at the asteroid's surface, then around me. _Where are you? _I heard something below me, looking down I gasped as Darkonda came racing toward me, striking me in the face as he flew past, he didn't give me a chance to recover for he pounded me hard on the back and blasted me so that it was I that was hurtling toward the ground. I managed to slow my descent and breath a sigh but a moment later my computer beeped again and I was slammed hard from behind. I crashed to the ground. Darkonda was soon on top of me, had turned me over and was pinning me to the ground! _Funny, I would expect this from Goldar._

"Ha ha! Now I will find out what you really are, none of the other Rangers can do half of the things that you do."

"Thanks," I grunted as I struggled to concentrate but my mind was too filled with the faces of my friends and Dex. "I get that a lot."

"My pleasure. You know, it really is a pity that I have to destroy you, you an unknown being one that possesses great power, why do you fight with the Rangers? If you join us, then you can have anything you want."

"Anything I want huh? Thanks but no thanks. Besides I really don't think even you can give me what I want more than anything." Out of the corner of my eye the Power Blast that he had dodged was zooming towards us.

"And what might that be?" he asked. I looked at him straight in the eye.

"Peace." I morphed into liquid as the Blast struck Darkonda causing him to scream, I materialized quickly and sent him hurtling through space with another well timed and well aimed Power Blast. And he was gone. I sagged a bit and was struggling to catch my breath. _That guy would have made a good sparring partner. _I laughed to myself, only to stop when I heard another explosion! I began to morph but my communicator beeped.

"Amy! Get out of there now!" screamed TJ. _Oh good they're safe. _I thought as I teleported myself to the Mega Ship. I landed in the middle of the bridge room.

"So, did it work?" I asked Andros ignoring Astronema's stare. Andros glanced at the screen and shook his head glumly, I gave a sigh. Cassie immediately suggested using the Astro Mega Zord and the Delta Mega Zord to deal with the asteroid.

"That would take too much time." said Andros. "There has to be some way to stop that asteroid before it hits Earth." I looked over at him, touched that he wanted to save a planet that was not his home. We all turned when we heard Astronema say

"There is." She walked up to us

"Dark Specter sent that asteroid, that means it's been programmed to hit Earth." I raised an eyebrow. _You can program a rock to aim for a target?_

"I can get on the Dark Fortress and reprogram it."

"No." shouted Andros, he grabbed his sister by the shoulders.

"I spent half of my life trying to find you, I'm not losing you again. There has to be another way." He said desperately.

"Andros, I'm sorry but there is no other way, besides this may be the only way to stop it." she said with a calm look on her face. I didn't dare say anything or look at her, while Andros began arguing with her, pleading with the possibility of bringing the Delta Mega Zord and the Astro Mega Zord to destroy that asteroid. She refused, saying that by the time both Mega Zords formed and the Delta Mega Zord arrived to our location it could be too late. For the first time, I privately agreed with her, although I was struggling with two things right now: A part of me wanted Astronema to go back to the Dark Fortress and stay there, that way she wouldn't be able to gain anymore of our secrets. But if she did go back then Andros would have lost his sister all over again, on the other hand if she did go back, then she'll tell Dark Specter our secrets and be able to answer a few of Darkonda's questions about me. I frowned not really seeing anyway out of this dilemma. I looked up when Andros heaved heavy sigh. After a moment he looked into Astronema's eyes and said.

"Okay, what do we have to do?" I frowned worriedly. Stepping forward I took a deep breath and, feeling slightly stupid, said,

"Andros, I would like permission to go with ...Karone onto the Dark Fortress." They all turned toward me, surprise on their faces.

"To ensure her safety and that her mission is successful." Astronema stared at me for a moment. Andros immediately agreed, his entire face relaxed with relief.

"Permission granted. Karone this is perfect Amy can turn into a puddle of liquid, she'll have you in and out of the Dark Fortress in no time at all." he said excitedly. But to our dismay(and my irritation) she shook her head.

"No, it's best if I go alone, there may be a chance that we could run into Darkonda or Ecliptor and I might have to do some fast talking to get out of there without raising any suspicion." _I think it's a little too late for that._ I limped toward her.

"Please allow me to do this one thing for you, I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure that you get back safely....for Andros's sake." She looked at me for a long moment. I wanted to go with her for two reasons: One to ensure that there was no chance that she was going to get captured and spill all of our secrets to her former comrades and two: I didn't want to see Andros in pain anymore(the look on his face reminded me of the day when I lost my mother for the second time, I wouldn't want that on anybody)but Astronema refused.

"Look the longer we stand around arguing that asteroid will get more closer to Earth. Amy, thank you for the offer but I'll go on my own on this one." There was a hint of anger in her voice. I nodded, knowing that she was right.

"As you wish." I said taking several steps back, Cassie turned on me furiously but I quickly cut her off.

"Cassie, there's no point in arguing anymore, she's made up her mind,." Cassie still looked as if she wanted to continue to argue but I had already turned my back on her to face Astronema.

"I still have my suit, I could go and change into it, Cassie I'll need your help." She paused for a few minutes and fingered her hair. She then turned and took off with Cassie at her heels, Andros stared after them, he turned to the rest of us.

"Are we doing the right thing?" he asked in a torturous voice. None of us had an answer.

An hour later Astronema and Cassie returned and we all stared. Astronema had fashion herself with a complete make over: She and Cassie had dyed Astronema's hair bright red, her suit had what appeared to be armor plating on the chest, legs and shoulders, she walked toward us with a confident stride.

"Well, how do I look?" She asked. Andros didn't answer.

"You look....well like you used to." he finally said in a faint voice. We all nodded in agreement. _Like you had never turned._ I thought, Andros stepped forward and handed her an earpiece.

"We'll remain in contact with these, if you get into trouble try to get out of there fast or one of us will come and get you out of there." He said. Astronema nodded, took the earpiece and placed it in her ear, she gave him a brave smile, he tried to return it but couldn't quiet manage. A-6 stepped forward and explained that he'll be able to teleport her to the Dark Fortress without detection.

"It's a simple matter of using a cloaking device that will shield you as you board the fortress." Astronema looked at each of us, she seemed scared but determined..

"Well," she said after a moment. "Wish me luck." The others did I merely nodded. Andros stepped toward her and hugged her tightly, a look of surprise came on her face she dropped her staff on the floor and stood still as he finally released her and took a step back. He looked at her for a long moment.

"Be careful and remember if there's trouble get out of there." He blinked furiously. She looked at him and nodded.

"I will." She said in a low voice. Turning to A-6 she gave him a nod, A-6 went to the controls and she teleported away. Andros stood stock still, staring at the spot where she had once stood. I turned away from him, I couldn't stand to see the pain on his face, that brought back the memory of losing mom all over again. _Dad. He must have felt the same way._ _I wonder.....on the day that I had said good bye to mom when I had gone to go and get my sub crystal, was he watching? Was he also experiencing the pain that I had when I walked out the door?_ I stared at the ground blinking back tears. _Why did that have to happen? Why does any of this have to happen?_ I looked out the window and only saw the cold and vastness of space and no answers.

After a few tense moments of waiting we receive word from Astronema:

"I'm in, I'm walking down the corridor to the control room. I don't see anyone here." I bit my lower lip. _Bad sign._ But I kept my mouth shut and with a glance at Andros, who looked as if he was on pin and needles, it was a good thing. The poor guy couldn't stand still for a second also it looked as if he was using all of his self control not to teleport Astronema back here.

"Okay, I'm at the controls and am now rerouting the asteroid's course." Andros began to bounce up and down on his toes, my eyes were on the asteroid. It was still on course. _What is taking so long?_ My stomach, which was already clenched since the start of this mission, only tighten more with worry. I began to pray that she would be able to pull this off without running into trouble. As soon as I finished that thought, we heard Astronema gasp. Andros ran to the control and called in a panicked voice

"Karone?" What we heard on the other end confirmed our worst fears.

"Ecliptor....what happened to you? What did they do?" We heard the horror in her voice. _Uh oh_. _Not good not good not good._ A chill passed through all of us as we heard him answer,

"The same thing that will happen to you my princess." We exchanged looks of growing uneasiness, which turned into terror when we heard her begin to scream.

"Ecliptor let go! Stop! Ecliptor!" Her voice began to fade away. Andros began to shout her name over and over again.....

"KRONE! KRONE!" but there was no answer.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"I'm going after her." said Andros in a firm voice, he stood up thinking that no one would question him.

"Alpha cover me up with the cloaking device that you used on Karone and teleport me to the Dark Fortress." I grabbed his arm before he could make a move.

"Andros no! Who knows what you might met when you go there, for all we know Darkonda or Ecliptor could be there, waiting for one of us to get into the Fortress after her. It'll be a suicide mission." He glared at me angrily and wrenched his arm from my grasp.

"So we just stand here and do nothing, while they are doing who knows what to my sister?" He yelled. I shook my head.

"No, we make up a plan and while we are doing that we also figure out how we are going to divert the course of that asteroid." I said calmly. Andros looked at me angrily then he shook his head.

"You guys think of a plan, I'm going after my sister." he began to take off but I levitated him into the air. He let out a surprised yell.

"Hey! Amy put me down now! I'm going after Karone!" He was spun so that he was facing me.

"Andros listen to me, think about it, if you go off to rescue your sister from the Dark Fortress, you may not come back! Is that what you really want to do? To try and save your sister but end up unable to save yourself?"I snapped angrily.

"Put me down!"

"You won't help her that way. You have to think up of a plan in order to save your sister as well as survive. And we are going to help you. Whether you like it or not buster!" The others were staring at me astonished and surprised that I even do this and speak in such a fashion to our leader.

"Okay," I said briskly turning my head to the others.

"First things first, we have to re route that asteroid somehow, it's getting closer to Earth." The others snapped out of their stupor, at my mention of Earth and nodded their heads. I turned once agin to Andros.

"Andros I promise you that after we save Earth, we'll go after your sister, you have my word." He was silent for a moment, he finally submitted and nodded his head. He was lowered to the ground, immediately the others began to give out ideas. We finally settled on getting all three Mega Zords: the Astro Mega Zord, the Delta Mega Zord and the Mega Voyager to try to push the asteroid off course. We split up into three teams: Carlos and Cassie were going to pilot the Mega Voyager, TJ was going to pilot the Astro Mega Zord and Andros and I were going to be in the Delta Mega Zord. The Mega Vehicles and the Delta Mega Zord came at their fastest, while we were waiting, the Astro Mega Ship changed into the Astro Mega Zord.

"Come on! Hurry up!" shouted Andros, urging the Astro Mega Zord to form faster. The others had already climbed into their Mega Zords Suddenly they all let out gasps when they saw the asteroid stop dead.

"What the?"

"What's happening?" Shouted my team mates. It was me! I was concentrating my hardest to stop the asteroid although it was proving difficult, it was gigantic. _I have never stopped anything this big before!_ My entire body was trembling.

"Guys get in the path of the asteroid and start pushing it away from the Earth, I don't know how long I can hold it!" I shouted, I had one hand up and pointed toward the screen. Carlos, Cassie, in the Mega Voyager shot forward and planted themselves in the asteroid's path followed by the Delta Mega Zord. They planted their hands on it and began to push it back; around that time the formation of the Astro Mega Zord was complete, steering it so that it was beside the others all of us began to push, but it was pretty much like trying to push a planet, it just wouldn't budge or change course no mater how much power we put into the back thrusters. _Come on! Come on!_ I thought desperately struggling to give more power to all three Mega Zords, but I was using most of my power trying to push the asteroid back!_ Come on move please move!_ I pushed with all of my might, the only result was that it moved a little bit.

"I thought that everything became weightless once it was in space!" snapped Carlos angrily, I laughed despite myself but then sobered up as all of us continued to push._ God! We could really use some help here._ And as if in answer, another Mega Zord showed up, and began to push along with us!

"What?" cried Andros.

"Hey guys, miss me?" called a voice cheerfully over the intercom.

"Zhane?" We all in surprise.

"Yup, now come on all together now." We began to push, but even with all of us the stupid thing still wouldn't budge and we were nearly in Earth's stratosphere! I focused all of my power and thought of all the people on Earth that I knew and cared about. I thought of Dex and my friends. Of Kimberly, my sister. My resolve strengthened. I _will protect the Earth, I won't let it be destroyed, not by Dark Specter, Astronema or by anybody. I won't let that happen! Wait, I sense something._ Thinking that it was Goldar, coming to take advantage of our predicament and start attacking us, I opened my eyes a crack, my heart pounding, my eyes flew open and my mouth dropped open in surprise.

_You rang? _Said a voice in my head._ A–aisha_?

_The one and only_. Her voice rang with good natured laughter. _I brought some help with me as well._ It was each and every Mega Zord that the Power Rangers had ever piloted: There was the Mega Zord, that the first team of Power Rangers piloted, the Ninja Mega Zord, the Shogun Mega Zord, the Zeo Mega Zord, and the Turbo Mega Zord! All of them were here! They floated towards us and positioned themselves in front the Asteroid and began to push! I chanced a glance toward Andros, it had occurred to me that my team mates had not shouted out in surprise, had not asked where all of these Mega Zords came from, nor what they were doing here. _Can they not see them? _The Zeo Mega Zord was close enough to brush the Mega Voyager's shoulder. As if in answer to my question I heard Aisha's voice in my head. _They can't see them, only you can._ The asteroid, began to move to the left.

"That's it everyone!" shouted Andros, for a split second I thought that he was addressing the entire team of Rangers, both past and present. The asteroid was moving off course, slowly but surely it was moving. Finally we managed to push it entirely out of Earth's path, my team mates cheered I leaned back in my seat with a grateful sigh, glancing out to the side I saw the other Mega Zords. _Thank you! _I called out to them silently. They nodded back or raised their hands in farewell and vanished.

"What are you looking at Amy?" asked Andros, I jumped and turned toward him.

"Oh nothing." I said putting an innocent look on my face. He shrugged his shoulders.

Later we were all gathered on the bridge, the others were thanking Zhane for his help and he in turn was explaining about the Zord and where he had gotten it. I noticed that Andros talked and made the usual movement and facial expressions appropriate to having a friend and a close ally return, but I knew that his mind was already working on a plan to get his sister back from the Dark Fortress. He turned briskly toward the others.

"Okay everyone, I'm going after Karone." Zhane blinked.

"You found your sister? That's..." But before he could say anything more A-6 stepped in front of him and explained all that had happened. Immediately everyone began to talk at once wanting to go with him. Andros was trying to tell them all something but couldn't be heard over their voices. Putting two fingers in my mouth I let out an ear splitting whistle. All of them cried out and cringed but fell silent, turning to look at me.

"Listen up, all of you. The only person that's going with Andros to the Dark Fortress is me." There were protesting shouts from the others, I shouted for silence.

"I'm the only one that can get him past any guards that might be there and move around undetected due to my ability to morph into a liquid state."

"But any of us...." started Cassie.

"Will be easily spotted, captured and who knows what will be done to you." I said firmly. Cassie glared at me. I continued.

"It's best if only two people go, we will be lest detectable and if one of us gets captured the other can go, return here and start off on a rescue mission." I turned to Andros, who was half way to the door, I limped to catch up with him. But we both stopped when Zhane suddenly called out

"Hang on! I'm coming with you guys." I turned and looked angrily at him.

"Zhane you...." Finally Andros shouted angrily.

"Look we're just wasting time! Amy and Zhane, you're both coming with me, the rest of you stay here." He turned and took off. After glancing at each other, Zhane and I hurried after him.

The Dark Fortress had moved within the last hour, luckily the Astro Mega Ship managed to catch up with it without getting on its radar. After preforming a scan on the Fortress, we found out that shields and a force field had been placed around it, so it looked as if teleporting into the Fortress was out. We decided to sneak in. Morphing and taking the Galaxy Gliders we hitched a ride onto a Velocifighter, while the boys were ducking and hiding behind the back wings of the Velocifighter I had morphed and was hanging on for dear life so as not to go flying off into space. _We could have flown the Galaxy Gliders underneath the stupid thing but no. _I thought grumpily. We reached the Dark Fortress and passed into the main cockpit, I looked around, I had expected this, the entire place was crawling with Quantrons. I took a deep breath to steady myself, slid over to Andros and Zhane; both of them joined with me in liquified state and away we went. Ducking behind one of the structures that lend into the main hall, we materialized, I took out my computer and punched into Astronema's vital signs. Zhane and Andros kept peeking out from around the structure and ducking back, both of them were talking to each other in low voices, but I was too busy concentrating to really pay attention.

"You went on a date with my sister?"

"It was just one." On screen showed the inside of the Fortress and the various rooms, after searching in each and every room I was disappointed that dad wasn't here. _Damn! They must have moved him! _Despair began to flood through me and with difficultly I shoved it away.

"Andros, I found her!" I said in a low voice. Both boys turned .

"Where?" They both asked at the same time. I scanned the information.

"In her control room, it's a bit far, so we should be able to reach it with no trouble." Andros nodded while Zhane had an uneasy look on his face.

"Let's go!" Andros said. I resumed my morphed state, morphed the boys as well and we took off. Down several hallways we went going past Quantrons who were, no doubt, on patrol, we stopped and hid in an air vent when we saw Darkonda walking towards us, much to my surprise Elgar was with him.

"Keep an eye out and tighten security Elgar. Those Rangers are probably planning to board the ship and rescue her." Snapped Darkonda.

"Sure thing boss." said Elgar giving him a salute, then he spun and walked away muttering under his breath about locating a couple of Quantrons. Darkonda went on his way and we crept out of our hiding place._ If Elgar is here then I guess Divatox is here as well, funny I'm not half as worried if I run into her as I should be_. Slithering down a few more hallways and finally turning right we came upon the control room, I was a bit surprised and uneasy to find it empty.

"Okay Amy." murmured Andros.

"Just a few more seconds, just to make sure that the coast is clear." I whispered back. After seeing that the coast was in fact clear and nobody walked into the room, we materialized. Looking around we saw another door way ahead of us.

"That must be her quarters." I murmured pointing. Andros gave a slight nod and walked toward it, Zhane and I followed, I was suddenly reminded of the time when Kat and I managed to retrieve Kim's Power Coin, my Coin and Ninjor and how it ended up being a trap.

"Zhane, get ready for anything." I whispered to him. He nodded. The weight of my sword gave me reassurance as we stepped into the room, sitting in a chair on the far side of the room was....

"Karone!" called Andros happily. I glanced around half expecting Goldar to pop out and attack us, I glanced at Andros and saw him freeze, a look of horror on his face. He took a step back. Astronema turned to face us.

"Oh no." whispered Zhane. I let out a gasp horror going through me as well. Her face was once again cold and emotionless looking and to add to it, what looked like a head set, appeared to be attached to the right side of her face. Despite this new look of hers, Andros tried to reach her.

"Karone! Its me, Andros your brother." She stared back at him coldly then a smile curved her lips.

"Ecliptor get them!" I launched forward and grabbed Andros.

"Time to go!" I said as Zhane spun and began to fight off Ecliptor who had raced in the room, _how'd he get here so fast?_

"No!" Shouted Andros tearing himself away from me, he grabbed Astronema by the shoulders and began to shake her.

"Karone it's me" His voice was on the brink of breaking, I could see the shine of tears in his eyes. She pulled back one arm.

"Andros!" I shouted at the same time I levitated her and flung her toward Ecliptor and the stream of Quantrons that were coming in.

"Andros come on!" shouted Zhane. Grabbing his arm, Andros pulled away again.

"Not without my sister!" He shouted angrily.

"She's not Karone! They've brainwashed her!" Zhane shouted back.

"Uh guys.....could we maybe continue with conversation some other time?" I shouted, I was holding Astronema and her cronies at bay. All of them were using their weapons to try to blast a hole through my shield. Andros looked at Astronema for a long time, pain etched on his face, finally he turned toward me.

"Let's go Amy!" shouted Zhane. Both boys hurried forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't need to tell me twice." We melded into one puddle, the shield went down, the baddies surged forward, but we had already taken off, shooting past all of them, dodging feet and legs as we tore down the hallways, finally emerging into the docking bay.

"Hang on tight!" I shouted as I shot forward toward the docking bay door, I concentrated and managed to open the door a crack big enough for all of us to squeeze through, then we were out. Calling on the Galaxy Gliders we clambered onto them and sped off toward the Mega Ship, unfortunately Velocifighters were right on our tail! I turned my Glider back and raced toward them._ Let's see if these guys know how to play chicken_. The Velocifighters and I were closing the distance: we were ten feet from each other, then eight, then five. I powered up when it became clear that this guys weren't budging.

"Power Blast!" I shouted. The Velocifighter in front of me swerved, I directed the Blast straight toward the other Fighters, they exploded. The first Velocifighter raced at me, it was nearly on top of me when I turned my Glider into a nose dive, I positioned myself underneath the Fighter, pulled out my sword and rammed it into the belly of the Fighter, cutting it all the way until I reached the tail, I went into another nose dive as the ship exploded. Then I turned my Glider around and headed toward the boys and we made our way back to the Astro MegaShip.

Andros was ahead of Zhane and I as we made our way to the bridge, the door slid open and the others turned to greet us, glad that we had made it back safely....without Andros's sister.

"Andros...what happened? Are you alright?" asked Cassie.

"I'm fine." He said in a tense voice as he walked past her refusing to met her gaze, she continued to follow him with her eyes as he sat in a chair and buried his face in his hands. His shoulders began to shake, after a moment of hesitation Cassie walked over to him, kneeled and put her arms around him. There was no need to re-count what had happened....the others knew that we had failed in our mission.

Later in my room, I was lying in my bed staring up at the ceiling, Andros had retreated to his room after Zhane had told the others what had been done to Astronema. I had gotten a scan of her and with DECA's help, we were able to identify what that thing was that was on her.

"It appears to be a microchip that is controlling Karone's brain waves so any and all memories that she had of ever being Karone is lost, also it seems to have wiped out all emotions." DECA said.

"But she's still in there....and I'm going to find a way to bring her back." Andros said determinedly. All of us agreed and promised to help him. But I had my doubts, Astronema rarely came down from the Fortress so ideas of grabbing her, bringing her to the MegaShip and removing that circuitry were out, so were any and all ideas of sneaking aboard the Dark Fortress again._ Just as well, they must have tighten security tenfold_, _and even if we did manage to sneak on......we probably wouldn't make it out alive. _I blinked and thought about it. _Um...maybe we could...I mean Astronema and her crew are not really that strong...with the exception of Darkonda that is._ A picture of all those Quantrons surrounding and overwhelming us popped into my mind._ The numbers Karmer, the numbers! Plus the fact that Dark Specter himself might show up._ _Although, now that I think about it, for being "The All Mighty Evil and The Boss of Every Evil Villain"_ _that the Power Rangers have faced....he, like Astronema, Zedd, Count Dregon and Divatox....doesn't like to get his hands dirty. _Sitting up, I turned my body so that I had my back to the wall. Even though I didn't initially care about Astronema, and could care less about saving her, it was the fact that I _had_ to save her that made it my duty to help Andros. I thought back to the time when Master Vile had reversed time. _Mom , my family._ I remembered my excitement and joy....._and the pain when I had to say good bye_. _When I went to the cemetery and saw her tombstone.....the reality of it slammed into me and made the pain more real_. I blinked back tears. I thought of the look of pure shock on Andros's face when he saw his sister, sitting before him, brainwashed and turned evil once again. _Seeing her like that, that was the reality for him._ _I have to help save her, even...even though I think it's impossible. We're dealing with a microchip, that's going to be even tougher to break than a spell.....but we have to try. For Andros's sake._

**Not my best work, I know.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Needing a bit of a break from everything, I thought I'd spend the day with my fiancee, and also to feel normal again. _All this craziness that's going on, sometimes it's good to get away...for a while anyway. Still....why does everything normal have to look and feel so....weird?_ We were side by side crossing a park in the middle of Leawood and I couldn't help but be amazed that the city still looked the same as the first day I came on my bike.To me it was as if the city itself wasn't at all affected by the war between Dex and Count Dregon, _Like Angel Grove. _Sometimes whenever I would be walking to or from school, I would be amazed and a little startled at how peaceful and calm everything would be. _Until an attack....but then after that everything would be peaceful again. _It would give me a sense of unreality. As the war had gone on, I began to feel as if preforming every day things, like walking in the park, talking to friends, preforming everyday tasks felt.....strange as if I, myself, was someone else entirely when preforming those tasks.. Sometimes I felt that there were two of me: One was the Power Ranger, the warrior, sworn to protect her planet and the people that she loved, who battled her inner and outer demons and evil aliens.

The other was the orphan girl that only wished for a normal life, who dreamed it, wanting to put an end to all the pain that she had suffered. But, right now, with the search for dad taking over everything in my life right now, the second Amy was slowly disappearing, to be replaced by the warrior. I was getting more and more afraid that even when this was all over, I would still be the warrior. Unable to settle down and finally live my life, to find happiness with the man that I loved, with my family that I held near and dear to me, and that scared me. Dex glanced down at me sensing something was wrong.

"What is it?" He looked concerned. I glanced up at him, thinking for a moment that he wanted to know what was on my mind.

"Nothing, just thinking." I quickly said."Think we could get something to eat. I'm a bit hungry." Going to a restaurant that wasn't too far, we found a table, ordered and ate. After a while I noticed that Dex was trying to get my attention. Looking up at him I asked what was up, half afraid that he wanted to know what was really on my mind, I breathed a silent sigh of relief when he instead said:

"Andros. From what you've told me it sounds as if the guy has been dealt a serious blow. Have you talked to him?" I nodded.

"I tried a couple of times yesterday, knocked on his door for 20 minutes, he kept the door shut." I paused for a minute. _Really can't blame the guy for wanting to be alone._

"Other than blaming himself and feeling lousy that he couldn't do more to save...uh...his sister, he's mad at me as well." Dex looked up at me.

"Because you still thought of her as the princess of evil and therefore _didn't_ try your hardest to save her." I smiled at him. _He knows me so well._ I nodded, I paused for a second then said slowly.

"The thing is that...I don't feel guilty about this at all Dex. She was a danger to us, sooner or later she was going to use everything that she had been told against us. To me, I think it was the good thing for everybody that she was recaptured before she got to know us really well and used our weaknesses to her advantage." I sighed and swirled the ice in my glass and thought of Andros, heart broken and sad in his room.

"Having Astronema back on the dark side again keeps us all safe but it tears at Andros.....I don't see any way of fixing this." He laid his hand on my hand and squeezed my fingers. After a pause Dex asked.

"What about the others? How did they take it when you told them that Karone had turned?" I frowned slightly.

"They were shocked of course, they wanted all of the details of what had went on the Dark Fortress, who was there, how many foot soldiers, the whereabouts of Darkonda and Ecliptor....and Astronema. They wanted to know how she looked when Zhane, Andros and I went into her quarters and how she acted towards us." Dex leaned slightly closer despite himself.

"And how did she act?"

"Like she didn't know us at all, her eyes and face didn't register anything at all when Andros spoke to her."

"So after brainwashing her and making her evil again, they must have erased any and all memories of you and the others." said Dex, I nodded.

"In a way," he began thoughtfully, I glanced up at him.

"You guys are a bit more safer. When she turned traitor, she found out who all of you were,"

"Including the fact that I was half-human" I said brightening up a bit. Then I faltered.

"Oh, but she must given the information to someone, possibly Dark Specter." I said glumly.

"I don't think so." I looked up at Dex surprised.

"During the battle in any of them call you a half-ling?" I struggled to remember if anything had been said other than battle cries. I shook my head.

"No, I don't think so. But if anything there was no time, Ecliptor and Darkonda were trying to kill us and the boys and I were trying to get out with our lives, it all went pretty fast." I thought some more.

"Well, if not one of them called you a half ling then that means that they don't know." I nodded but I wasn't so sure._ Even if Astronema never got the chance to tell them about who I really am, they still could have gotten the information from dad._ Visions of dad being interrogated ran through my mind, I shut my eyes and struggled to keep my food down. _Oh, dad, I'm sorry. I made a promise to myself that I would protect my team mates and friends from the forces of evil. I didn't even think of you. _After paying for our food, we walked out of the restaurant hand in hand. As we walked I looked around and saw people strolling around the sidewalk with their families, laughing, playing, and enjoying the company of each other, living normal lives. My mind drifted to Eltar. _It must have been a lot like Earth, before Count Dregon's attack and possibly before Rita's._ I thought about what Dad had told me: what provoked the first attack on Eltar. _Count Dregon had attacked out of revenge but is that all? Was there something else behind the attack? Oh, I know that he wanted to kill dad, for stealing the woman that he "loved" and me for being the offspring_. _But when mom and I managed to escape, why didn't he go after us? He had his entire ship to command and a whole army, he could have easily captured our ship, recaptured mom and killed me. So why didn't he? Were he and his army too focused on killing dad and everyone that was involved in my mother's rescue? _I thought about it some more. _Dregon had plenty of time to capture mom and kill me even after Zedd told him of our location.....in fact he had more than enough time. _

_During the early days of my Rangerhood, during all those peaceful times when all of us had lowered our guard..... _I thought of the very first time that I had met Dregon face to face and how he had told me of the fact that because dad had been trapped in that tube he couldn't hug or touch mom or me._ Further punishment_. I realized as anger shot through me. _Dregon knew that even though dad had found us he couldn't protect us, not while he was inside that tube. _A horrible thought forced itself into my mind, I nearly collapsed onto my knees but steadied myself so as not to alarm Dex._ What if....wha_t_ if Dregon allowed_ for dad to see what had went on inside the house. I tried to shut out the images but they forced themselves into my mind: dad feeling panic, anger and helplessness, watching it happen and not being able to do a damn thing about it, I could see dad beating himself against his tube shouting at Dregon, screaming for my mother. Hating Dregon; hating himself even more. _All of these powers......and I couldn't even save her. That thought had crossed my mind a thousand times during the war with Zedd, I thought that I had been the only one to think it but.....dad...why didn't I ask? How could I have been so selfish? _I began shaking and was dimly aware of us stopping, through the tears in my eyes I saw Dex turn toward me, then without another word he put his arms around me. I was struggling to hold in my tears for I had just realized that I had been crying my eyes out ever since this mission first started. I've been crying out of frustration, anger and sadness._ God I'm turning into such a crybaby. _After several moments of struggling to gain control of myself and failing I let the tears fall, Dex stroked the back of my head and back, not saying anything, for which I was grateful. After several minutes he took a step back and looked at me in the eye.

"Feel better?" He asked with understanding in his eyes. I sniffed and nodded.

"Good." said a voice to our right, Dex and I both turned. Gork, Cyclopter and Double Face had appeared it had been Double Face that had spoken.

"Because we're about you make feel much worse!" The three of them raised their weapons and fired at us, Dex and I leaped, crossing each other in mid air we shouted

"Ecto Phase Activate!"

"Let's Rocket!"As we landed fully morphed, we charged at them. Gork flung electricity at me I went into a roll, morphed and sped toward him, shooting upward as he aimed his hands at me causing the electricity to fly into the air, I shot downward, materialized two feet from him and with a powerful side kick to the head, Gork was flung to the ground.. I started to turn my head to see how Dex was faring but I had to dodge one of Double Face's daggers.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about yourself right now princess?" he snarled as he began to attack me with his sword. Taking out my own, I dodged, parried and thrust. And all the while I couldn't help but think _This is the second time that someone has called me princess and yet.....I'm totally cool with it._ I spun to dodge as he slashed downward, I gasped and turned again as he swept his sword upward nearly catching me. He again turned and thrust, I leaped up and delivered a flying kick which he dodged but fortunately for me I was able to deliver a tornado kick with my other foot mixed with a Power Blast. I laughed as Double Face landed face down but it was cut short when I had to dodge another dagger that flew through the air toward me, Double Face must have thrown it before landing on the ground. Stopping it telekinetically, I readied myself for another attack, but cried out and fell to my knees as I was engulfed in electricity.

"You of all people should know," cackled Gork as he continued to step closer toward me, still firing.

"It's not nice to turn your back on someone." he fired again, I yelled and was soon on all fours. I opened my eyes, turned my head and glared at him

"And _you_ should know," I shouted through gritted teeth.

"That I've faced much worse than this." Concentrating I forced up a shield in front of me, turned it outward and made the electricity bounce off it and fly toward Gork. He dodged the attack I got to my feet and picked up my sword which had fallen out of my hand.

"Ready for round two?" Shouted Double Face as he leaped into air toward me flinging daggers charged with energy. Thinking fast I held out my sword in front of me and began to spin it so as to deflect the onslaught. _Huh, I saw this move in a movie once, really surprising that it can work in the real world._ Releasing my sword, I made it continue to spin as Double Face continued to fire, thinking that the guy was seriously asking for it I was about to go ahead and kick his butt when something sharp and fast struck my arm, letting out a yelp and clutching my upper arm, I turned. Gork was racing toward me and continuing his attack_. Oh, great._ My sword fell to the ground but I was too busy to pick it up. I leaped, jumped, twirled and dodged the daggers and the electricity I landed on the ground and braced myself as the two different attacks zoomed toward me at incredible speed....

"AMY!" Shouted Dex. But I had already raised both of my hands and stopped the attacks just they were about to hit their target. I breathed a sigh then readied myself to turn the attacks on their masters when.....

"AHHHH!" I let out a scream of pain as I felt something sharp hit my back, falling to my knees I lost my concentration and in doing so Gork's and Double Face's attacks slammed into me.

"That was perfect!" crowed Nefaria.

"Ha ha I knew that would work!" laughed Double Face. The smoke cleared and I was laying on my stomach trembling as I tried to push away the pain that the whip had caused. _Ah, I'd forgotten how much this hurts._ I made it to my knees, my locket, I felt was glowing and beginning to heal me, but to my horror I heard the sound of a whip flying through the air and _crack_! It struck, I let out another yell. Nefaria laughed as she pulled back her arm and sent the whip flying again. I let out another scream.

"The powerful half-ling, brought down by a whip. You will no longer be alive once I'm through with you!" She pulled back her arm again, but froze. Dex had come up from behind her and had grabbed onto her wrist holding the whip.

"No one hurts my future wife like that!" He roared, he bent her arm back and with amazing force he flung the whip forward and to such an extent that Cyclopter. Double Face and Gork were caught in the lasso and tied up! Yanking back hard so that they were dragged to where Dex and Nefaria were, Dex tied her up within the whip as well. Grabbing the little bit of the whip left he began to swing all of them around and around in a large circle, faster and faster until they became blurs, then with a grunt he released them and they went flying!

"Electro Saber Activ-" he started but my voice, which had called to him, made him freeze. He turned his head, then looked back at Nefaria and Co. But they had long disappeared, turning and running over to me, he helped to my feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he turned back into Dex Stewart. He was surprised to feel that I was trembling.

"Yeah," I croaked. "Just give me a few minutes." Once again my locket glowed and engulfed my body in its healing light. I breathed a sigh and straighten up._ Phew, good thing that was just an ordinary whip, for a second there I was sure that it was the one that Goldar and Zedd used on me._

"Are you sure you're alright? Let me see your back Amy." He tried to turn me but I wriggled away from him.

"I'm fine Dex really." I looked around and demorphed.

"What was that all about?" Dex shrugged his shoulders, that worried look still on his face.

"I don't know, to tell you the truth I was half expecting for Dregon to show up."

"Do you think that might have been just a warm up act?" A dark look appeared on his face..

"It's more than likely." He cocked his head to one side, he blinked.

"You hear that?"

"Dex, do I have to remind you that I'm half human? I don't have the same....." But I was cut off when my communicator beeped. I brought my wrist to my mouth.

"Amy here."

"Yo Amy! You'd better get to the warehouse in Angel Grove, the others need you." A-6 sounded frantic.

"Okay." I turned to Dex and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth.

"I gotta go, thanks again for helping me."

"Anytime. Are you sure that....?"

"I'm fine Dex seriously, I'll check my back as soon as I can." He let out a resigned sigh then nodded as I morphed into liquid and sped off. He called out to me to be careful, I shot a short spark of yellow energy into the air to tell him that I had heard.

Arriving at the scene I froze, surprised when I saw my team mates fighting weird looking Rangers! And they were getting their butts handed to them! _Who are these guys?_ The weird Rangers seemed to be more powerful and stronger than my team mates! Furthermore I sensed that they were being powered somehow, I tried to determine what type of power I was sensing from these guys but a sick feeling rose within me as I thought _What if they're powered by the energy that is being stolen from dad?_ I heard my team mates scream in pain and anger rose within me. I shot forward.

"Yellow Ranger Power!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, I materialized and tackled the Red Ranger that had been attacking Andros. He rolled away from me and leapt up but I was already on him punching furiously. I grabbed his arm and made him collided with the other Yellow Ranger that had been racing toward me. I turned to face the other weird Rangers and gestured to them.

"Let's go." They charged, I pulled out my sword and raced at them. I leapt up, they rolled underneath me. I spun in mid air and fired downward, they yelled as the Blast struck home. I landed on my feet then turned to my team mates.

"You guys all right? " I helped up Cassie, who was on her back and judging from the damage to the front of her suit she had been hit pretty badly, so had the others when I looked at them.

"Yeah, we're okay."

"Good thing you showed up." said Carlos. I only nodded.

"Who are these guys?" TJ answered.

"They call themselves the Psycho Rangers." I grinned beneath my mask.

"The what?"

"Don't underestimate them, they're powerful!" cautioned Andros as if he could see my smile. All of us turned when we heard one of the Psycho Rangers say

"We're so glad that you could come to your friend's aid Yellow Ranger, it saved us the trouble of tracking you down." rasped Psycho Ranger Black.

"Although, you made us miss half the fun." sneered Psycho Pink.

"But we did have fun kicking your friends around." Laughed Psycho Yellow. I didn't say anything, merely studied them. All of the Psycho Rangers had black suits on which had dark colored armor, same color as our suits, on top, each of them seemed to have white elbow length gloves on, but upon closer inspection, black hands, same with their feet and legs, white boots but black feet. Their weapons, which were holstered onto their sides, were like ours. The Psychos formed a line.

"Let's go." I called to my team mates, they got up and stood beside me. We charged, the Yellow Psycho Ranger ran toward me, I slipped underneath her, she brought out her weapon and fired at me, I saw that she had a weapon similar to that silly slingshot, that was supposed to be my first main weapon. I laughed out loud, as I dodged the attack and whipped out my sword and slashed at her. She cried out in pain as she fell. _Huh, look at that. _She staggered to her feet turned and faced me again. But I had already turned and was helping my team mates fight off their counter parts: I tackled the Psycho Red Ranger again, pressed one hand to his stomach, powered up and released! I flew backward as the Ranger screamed. I spun and darted toward the Pink Psycho Ranger, who was kicking Cassie all around the room

The Psycho saw me power up, I unleashed my Blast, the Psycho leaped and fired an arrow at me.I fired an Energy Blast, the two collided, and a small explosion was the result of it. Psycho Pink tried to see through the smoke, but what she saw was my fist. Before she could move I connected, my first Blast had made a wide U-turn and hit its target she flew toward me, I ducked, turned and watched as she smashed into a wall. I turned back toward Cassie

"You alright?" She didn't answer, merely stared at me.

"How is it that you can keep up with them?"

"I told you," I said calmly. "I'm more battle harden." I extended out a hand and helped her up.

"I'm going have to teach you guys a few of my moves after this is over" I said with a bit of a grin on my face. We both turned as the Psychos Pink and Yellow advanced on us. I turned to Cassie.

"Switch?" She jerked her head toward me startled.

"What?" But I had already darted toward Psycho Pink and we're both already in the middle of a hand to hand combat contest. _There is definitely something to be said for being half alien. _I thought as I dug my knee in her stomach, bringing both of my interlocked hands down on her back, I was momentarily surprised when her hands shot up, grabbed my wrists and flung me bodily over her shoulder, I managed to flip myself over and fire right at her back, and she flew, right toward TJ. I lifted him up out of harms way. The Blue Psycho Ranger was momentarily surprised and stared as TJ flew two feet into the air, only to yell in surprise as Psycho Pink crashed into him. I laughed as they lay on the ground stunned, I set down TJ. He looked over at me.

"Thanks." I only nodded. I spun and shot toward Carlos who was on the ground. I concentrated and vanished on the spot, only to reappear again above the Black Psycho Ranger, he stared as I came down on him yelling, he whirled his axe, trying to get me to dodge it and be open to an attack. Instead I spun in mid air, and materialized a split second later on his left, he turned and tried to attack, again I vanished only to appear on his right, again he turned, again I vanished only to reappear on his left, he slashed again and in that small second when he had his body turned, I appeared once again in front of him. I was already powered up and released! He didn't even have chance to dodge. He let out a yell as he flew and smashed through a pillar. I turned and looked toward the other Psychos, all of them were struggling to their feet, their attention was no longer on my team mates but on me!

"She took down Psycho Black all by herself." breathed one of the Psychos.

"And you guys are about to join him, if you don't lay off my team mates." I growled. The Red Psycho looked at the others.

"Come on, she possibly can't take on all of us!" All of them charged. I stood stock still as they came closer and closer, finally as they came within two feet of me I fired at them. They leaped up and hit the ground dodging it. When they next looked I had vanished. They looked to the left, there I was leaning against a pillar, they fired their weapons, I vanished again and reappeared sitting on a pile of boxes, once again they turned and fired and once again I vanished before I was hit. Again and again I reappeared and vanished, again and again they tried to attack me. They were growing angry and frustrated.

"Where are you? Come out and fight!" Shouted Psycho Red.

"Are you afraid that we'll beat you easily like we beat your friends?" sneered Psycho Blue. Silence was the only answer until......

"Actually I was trying to think of the perfect way to end this little battle, but if you insist on being beaten right now...." I had appeared amidst them, they actually leaped away from me and pointed their weapons at me, but I had already powered up and released.

"POWER BLAST ENCIRCLE!" The Blast slammed into all of them, they let out screams as they flew through the air in four different directions only to be slammed again by my previously fired Power Blast, they slammed into the walls and slid down to the floor A couple of minutes passed, they managed to pick themselves up, and vanished.. _Hmm. I thought for sure that they would go flying through the walls._ I slowed my breath and turned toward the pillar that the Psycho Black Ranger had crashed into, but he too had gone.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

We regrouped in the Astro Mega Ship, while my computer was being hooked up to DECA's main frame, I went to the mess hall to get myself a drink.

"Okay," I said as I limped back into the room. "It seems as if Astronema has evened the playing field by making Rangers of her own." _If you want to level the playing field, fight fire with fire._ I looked at the screen: Several pictures of the Psycho Rangers, their weapons and their abilities were shown, all eyes were on them with the expression of worry on their faces. Cassie turned toward me.

"What are they?" I set down my drink, limped over to my mini computer and began to type.

"Well, they're monsters and..."

"Monsters?"

"Yes, monsters. The Ranger forms that we saw today was their disguise and armor so that makes them pretty powerful."

"Yeah," said TJ in a mock tone "we figured that out for ourselves." I ignored him and pressed on.

"It says here that they are being powered by Dark Specter." Silence greeted me after this announcement.

"Their powered by....." breathed Andros a look of horror and panic in his eyes which was mirrored by the others. I closed my eyes briefly and breathed in, then letting it out slowly I reopened my eyes. I gave myself a brisk shake, _Dark Specter....the boss of Lord Zedd....._.

"Look....um.....considering how powerful these guys are....."

"I'm going to try to give you guys a bit of my power, just so we can even the odds." There was a moment of silence, everyone had turned and was staring at me.

"C-can you really give us some of your power?" asked Zhane. I opened my mouth but before I could say anything.....

"And if you can't?" snapped Cassie in an angry voice. _She's scared. _I thought for a minute, the only Rangers that I've shared my power with are my friends and that was thanks to the Power Coins, which acted as a base to contain the power, in time the power within the Power Coins merged with their physical energy, so that it became a part of them. So my friends no longer needed the Power Coins. Er....that's how Billy explained it. I lifted my gaze to met Cassie's.

"If not, then.... I'll be there whenever they show up." I said firmly. TJ and the others glanced at each other as I removed my locket from around my neck, gesturing to them they gathered around. I took a deep breath. I had my doubts about this but to ease their fear and to take away a bit of the panic that they were feeling....._ it's worth a shot._ They held out their wrists that had their morphers, I held my locket over them and concentrated. Like before, my locket glowed and released five spheres of light, they floated over to hang over the morphers. The spheres of light began to flicker the colors of my team mates, another moment passed and they returned to their normal yellow color and went back into my locket. TJ lifted up his head and looked at me.

"W–what just happened?"

"Why won't..." started Carlos. I didn't answer at first, only replaced my locket around my neck and looked at my own morpher. I thought that this would happen, yet I really didn't know if I was relieved or not that I couldn't share my powers with my team mates. I fingered my locket, _is it because these...people aren't my friends....that I still regard them as team mates, even after all of this time? _I thought about the time I had shared my powers with my friends. _Back then I didn't see them as team mates and fellow Rangers....but as friends and family. It's not like that with these guys, even though we trust each other, we are only together because of this mission._ _Maybe that's why I can't share my power with TJ and the others. _I scowled to myself. _Nah, I'm probably reading too much into this. There has to be a simple explanation for this, if only to satisfy these guys. _I took a breath and addressed them.

"I'm sorry, the morphers are more technology than magic. They won't be able to support my power."

"Well can't you just give _us_ a bit of your power?" asked Cassie. I shook my head.

"Your human bodies wouldn't be able to withstand my power even I just gave you a little bit, it needs a base that is compatible."

"What did Tommy and the others use?" asked Andros.

"They used the Power Coins." I said after a brief pause. Everyone was silent, at first I thought that they were mad that I had shared my power with my friends but couldn't share it with them. But I was surprised when TJ said in a calm voice.

"It's alright Amy. We'll just figure out a way to beat them." The others nodded.

Giving all of them a half smile and mentally wishing them luck, I turned limped out of the room, down the hall and toward my room. This was the second time that I had come face to face with a set of evil Rangers, the first time had been when Divatox had hired that monster that had created those fake Rangers using the light from our morphing sequences, but my friends and I had beaten them with little trouble.

But I had heard about the usage of evil Rangers nonetheless, even before I became a Ranger myself, I had overheard Finster, Squat and Baboo talk about the evil "Green Ranger" who had nearly destroyed the original team of Rangers, the "Dark Rangers", humans that Zedd had brainwashed into thinking that the Power Rangers stood in their way of gaining control of the world, the six putties who had taken on the forms of the Power Rangers, to cause trouble while in "civilian form" so that the real Rangers were punished and unable to go to the rescue once real trouble surfaced. But in the end, the Real Rangers had proved that those copies were just that, copies, weak, with no substance and easily defeat able. My mind swept back to the earlier battle between the Psycho Rangers. _It's different this time around, these guys aren't just mere copies, they have substance, their fast and powerful.....and their certainly going to be a handful. Either Astronema has files based on what can defeat the Power Rangers or......someone gave her the idea to send powerful copies after us. _I thought about it. _Makes sense in a way, after all of the monsters that we have battled and destroyed, one would only come to the conclusion that to defeat the Power Rangers you have to make your own set of Evil Rangers. But you have to make them more stronger, powerful and faster, because if the Power Rangers were just ordinary humans....with only suits to protect them...then...._ I stopped for a second, anger shot through me at the one person who thought that all humans were weak even when they're equipped with Power Cions that give them the power to morph into super heros with powerful weapons and Zords.

_Goldar._ I continued on down the hall. _Of course, he must have had a hand in this. Knowing that Dark Specter is absolutely more powerful than any enemy we've faced, plus the fact that he's draining dad's power, would make any and all monsters that share his power practically unbeatable. Goldar must have hinted to Astronema or to any of her other cronies about the legions of Evil Rangers that had nearly defeated the Power Rangers, Astronema must have thought that she would make up her own batch of evil Rangers, powered by Dark Specter, to destroy the Rangers. Until I showed up. _I furrowed my brow, then I smirked. _Looks like when they brainwashed her, they erased any and all information that Astronema gained about me. _I chuckled._ She must be having quite a time trying to figure out how one Ranger can beat all five of her Psycho Rangers, even when they are powered by the all powerful Dark Specter. Well, at least my secret is safe, but for how long?_ I began getting worried at how long it would take Astronema to figure out that there was more to me than met the eye._ Will she go looking for my former enemies and start asking questions about the Yellow Ranger? Will she find out that I am one of the last Eltarians and Zordon's daughter? If that happens....what'll happen to dad?_

"Penny for your thoughts?" said a voice from above me, I shrieked and nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Oh, no DECA I'm okay, thanks for asking." I arrived at my room again and after a short pause, entered it. Limping over to my desk I pulled out another mirror, then limping over to the bathroom, I took off my shirt, and with my back facing the mirror above the sink, I held up the other mirror toward the one behind me and kept adjusting it so that I had pretty good view of my back. _Hmm....I don't see any blood or new scars forming..._I winced as I saw my crisscrossed back. After taking a quick bath I went back to the bridge, Andros was the first to approach me.

"Zhane's not here. And he's not answering his communicator." My eyes widen in surprise, a ripple of anger went through me.

"Where did he go?"

"He went down to Earth, he...he's still pretty upset about Karone." I waved my hand in the air dismissing on the last part of the sentence.

"Where was his last location?" I snapped angrily. Andros looked taken aback at my tone. TJ spoke up.

"His last location was the Angel Grove mall, then his signal went dead." I scowled. _Why did Zhane go to Earth? He could very well run into the Psycho Rangers or worse he could run into Goldar._

"Let's go!" I called to my team mates. We rushed out of the bridge and sped toward Earth. We arrived at the last location of Zhane's, looking around for some sort of clue that could give us an idea of what happened to the little.... My thoughts were interrupted when Andros held up a device, limping closer to get a better look, I was more than surprised to see that it was an Am scanner, it was a device that would alert the others of any danger that was coming.

I got it from Andros and turned it over in my hands.

"It looks banged up."

"Must have been dropped after a fight." said Cassie grimly. Carlos, TJ and Andros were all looking around warily, I dug my mini computer from my pocket and opened it and began to scan for Zhane's vitals. _When we find him though.....why in the name of hell.....?_

"What are you doing?" asked Cassie.

"I'm trying to get a lock on Zhane." I growled. Several minutes passed.

"I got him!" They all clustered around me. Zhane's location was in the old library in the center of town. I closed my computer with a sharp _snap_.

"I can show you where it is, Billy and I went in there a couple of times." Before we could even move we received another call from A-6. Goldar and his turkeys were terrorizing a busy shopping mall. My first thought that both attacks had been set up, most possibly by Goldar himself and Astronema. I turned to the others but stopped. _Wait...they can't possibly stand up to either Goldar nor the Psycho Rangers._ I struggled to think of what to do, how best to approach this. If I sent my team mates against Goldar while I dealt with the Psycho Rangers, Goldar would have no trouble killing them since he didn't see them as a major threat. But if I sent them to deal with the Psychos while I dealt with Goldar they would still be slaughtered, I tried to clear my head, to think straight, and not for the first time, wished that my friends had not given up their powers. Andros was getting impatient and people were probably getting hurt at the hands of Goldar and the Tengu Warriors.

"What are we waiting for?" Andros snapped angrily.

"Nothing," I said looking up at him. "Andros, you and the others go and rescue Zhane, I'll deal with Goldar." Cassie blinked and TJ looked surprised.

"You're not....?"

"I'll come as fast as I can and help you out, I promise." I said to them. I took a step back from them, preparing myself for the hard battle between myself and Goldar, _those Psycho Rangers were pretty good for a warm up._ I thought. I took another step back.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, good luck." I called to them before morphing into a puddle and speeding away. Cassie called out to me but I sped up. In my mind's eye, I saw the shopping center on the day that I had gotten my Ranger powers back, I saw the little girl and her parents. _I won't let him hurt anyone else._ Speeding down streets and twisting and turning and dodging legs and cars, I willed myself to go faster.

Finally I arrived at the mall, in full gear, Goldar turned and grinned when he saw me, so did the Tengu Warriors, they were waiting for me, as I knew they would. Although there was evidence of destruction: overturned chairs, smashed windows, bags littering the ground where the people had dropped them in their haste to get away. I was a bit surprised to not see the ground littered with bodies or the stain of blood.

"So, all that talk about this place being attacked, was just a farce to draw me here right?" I asked in a cold voice. Goldar nodded and grinned even wider. The Tengu Warriors cackled.

"How else was I going to draw you out?" He held up a hand and seemed to be studying the armor around his wrist.

"The Psychos Rangers can have the 'weaklings', quite frankly, I would be rather insulted if I would have to deal them, because quite frankly it would be a waste of my time. Too bad Astronema doesn't think the way that I do." I turned thinking that I could somehow make it back to my team mates. But the Tengu Warriors appeared in front of me before I could even think.

"Now really, don't you think that it's rather unnecessary to go to them, they'll be dead by the time you get there. I know it and you know it." I didn't say anything, Goldar stepped toward me. I had my back turned toward him.

"Please, why do you even pretend to care about them? They're nothing, merely teenagers pretending to be super heroes, they can't even defeat any of Astronema's monsters even when they're at half strength. In fact they can't even beat me or my Tengu Warriors, they have to have help from a half-breed Ranger." While he was talking, I kept trying to get past the Tengus, but they would get in front of me whenever I tried to make a break for it. Finally I stopped trying to break out, _the only way to get to Andros and the others, is to fight Goldar._ I turned and stared at him, he smiled and nodded.

"I see that you've finally caught on." I didn't say anything, removing my sword from its sheath. I shot forward, Goldar held up one hand, I leapt, and swerved to the right as a telekinetic attack blazed past me. Another flew at me, I dodged downward and flew toward him, twisting in the air to dodge another attack I noticed that the Tengus had not moved, they were watching us and laughing. They knew that this battle was just a distraction, so that the Psychos would have chance to finish my team mates. _Get rid of the strongest Ranger, so that the others don't stand a chance and get killed, more Ranger blood to spill. And it'll be my fault. Because I wasn't there. Like mom, like Kimberly._

_It's all your fault. You're to blame._ I began to falter as these thoughts passed through my mind, worse I lost concentration and allowed Goldar to gain the upper hand, he grabbed my face roughly with one hand and blasted me through a window, the Tengu Warriors picked me up and dragged me through the broken glass and stopped in front of Goldar. I was punched and kicked by all of them, and all the while they were laughing at me. Finally Goldar summoned his staff and electrified me! I heard myself screaming, finally it stopped and I fell to the ground panting

I felt anger rise within me and used it to give me strength._ What are you doing? Get up Karmer! Get up! Don't you dare let him win! Not like this! GET UP! _I fought the other images that swam in front of my mind's eye, of my team mates lying in pools of blood, of the Psycho Rangers standing over their bodies laughing. I lifted up my head, _I won't let that happen! I won't have more blood on my hands!_ Morphing into liquid, like a bullet I shot toward Goldar, he lifted up his hand to create a force field but...I passed through it and succeeded in punching him hard. He fell to the ground, the Tengu Warrios stopped laughing and stared as the glow around my body faded. I glared down at him. Suddenly I was flung into the air and smashed into a stone pillar, I slid down and landed on the ground.

"Even if you do defeat us, you'll never reach them in time." snarled Goldar as I got to my feet. To his surprise, I laughed.

"Have you forgotten Goldar? I have friends on Earth who are allies of the Power Rangers." His eyes widen, a clear indication that he had forgotten about the Masked Rider. In a flash of flames, _is he leaving_? he reappeared in front of me, I cried out as he wrapped one hand around my throat and shoved me up against the pillar.

"Do you really think that your prince is going to be able to handle all five Psycho Rangers at once?" he squeezed my throat tighter. I clawed at his fingers, instantly they were forced to my sides.

"I don't think Goldar," I rasped. "I know!" Goldar noticed that his hand was glowing, he stared, surprised at it.

"What the?" The glow that was coming from his hand was a yellowish blackish color and it was going into me. I was stealing his power!

"Why you little....!" But before he could do anything....

"POWER BLAST!!" He was blown backward right into his Tengu Warriors! They skidded backward for a few feet then came to a stop. I stumbled forward rubbing my neck. I straighten up and faced Goldar and the Tengu Warriors.

"T–that was a bit of payback Goldar!" I shouted as I pulled out my sword, I gestured to him as he and the Tengus rose to their feet.

"Let's go." I powered up, he powered up as well. The Tengu took several steps back, this was Goldar's battle. He and I raced at each other and began to clash using our swords and our powers. Slicing and slashing at each other, we managed to dodge each other's attacks. I finally got a punch through, I brought my sword down on his head, he quickly took a step back, I saw my chance, lifted up one hand, took aim and fired! Once again he flew back several feet but managed to stop himself. Eyes blazing with anger he pushed off and raced toward me, with the speed of a bullet, I raced toward him with the same speed. I saw Goldar shifted ever so slightly to the right. To the Tengu it looked as if the both of us were about to collide head on but we merely passed inches from each other. Landing on the ground and with our backs to each other, a few tense moments passed, I fell on one knee, my hand going to my side. I staggered to my feet and turned, only to see Goldar in front of me, pulling back his arm, he attempted to punch me, I jumped up and my foot connected with his face. His head was thrown back and he stumbled backward but managed to grab my ankle with one hand and bring me crashing to the ground. I managed to swung my other foot and connect with the side of his head. He released me as he staggered and I managed to righten myself. Both of us faced each other panting. He pointed at me.

"Without those powers of yours you couldn't possibly defeat me." He growled.

"Is that right?" I panted shifting my body into a fighter's stance.

"That's right, don't you remember how you were before? Weak and scared, unable to lift up a hand against your master. Who used to beg Lord Zedd for mercy every time your power was taken, the tortured and sad little girl; who had blood on her hands that would _never _wash off, who felt guilt every time she put on the suit of Aisha Campbell, the Power Ranger that she killed _with her bare hands._ That was until you join Zordon's little army, and began to hide behind that suit that you are now wearing. In truth without your powers, you wouldn't stand a chance against me, you would revert back into our little punching bag, with no way to defend herself. _That was _the real you, not what's standing before me. All you are right now is nothing more than a disguise. You hide and cower behind your powers, behind your father and friends. " Anger pulsed through me as I thought of his words, for in a way, they were true. There have been times when I thought that I had been relying too much on my friends and my powers to bail me out of tough situations, times when I doubted that I would ever learn to fully rely on myself and my own strengths. I would never grow stronger and still be viewed as that weak little girl. But_ I've proved to myself that I can fight without having the power to morph into a Ranger, and that I can hold my own in battle._

"You really think that was the real me Goldar? That sad, tortured and weak little girl that you guys used as a whipping post and a punching bag? Well, I've got news for you. THIS IS THE REAL ME!" My suit glowed for a split second and vanished, I was going to fight him as myself and not as the Yellow Ranger, to finally show him that I had grown, that I was no longer that....that...._weakling_! Letting out a yell as I became energized with power, I shot forward and kneed him hard in the stomach, at the same time uppercutting him hard underneath the chin I sent him flying, racing toward him I soon caught eyes met, he glared at me with hatred I glared at him with coldness, I shot past him, he managed to steady himself, but I flew toward him from above and smashed my fist into his face. He fell and crashed into the pavement below, clouds of dust and debris were sent flying into the air. I flew toward the ground expecting him to come flying out of the dust to met me....he didn't disappoint. We were met in mid air and began to try to knock the other out of the sky. I ducked as his sword came slashing toward me, I punched him hard in the stomach, I preformed a sweeping kick, he fell backward, I brought my foot down on him, he rolled out of the way. He jumped to his feet, I grabbed an arm and managed to throw him over my shoulder, he landed on his feet turned and flew toward me, I had spun also and soon we were once again using hand to hand combat techniques and powers to try to out do each other. Finally I back flipped once away from him and in the middle of the back flip I fired. He deflected it with a wave of his hand, I fired again, he swerved to one side dodging it, I fired again, he dodged again, as he was about to dodge it I shot forward and concentrated, filling my entire body with power. Turning myself into liquid helped me slam into him all the more effectively. I was still on him as I demorphed, he was struggling to shake me off but couldn't I had a pretty firm grip on him, I noticed that his eyes were glowing. Too close to dodge it, I screamed as the fireballs that came out of Goldar's eyes struck me in the face, I screamed in pain. _My eyes, I can't see!_ I released Goldar and clutched my face. He flew toward me, after punching me underneath the chin, slapping me across the face, he kneed me in the stomach and brought both of his hands down onto my back. As I was falling toward the ground below me, he pointed his sword at me and fired several fireballs at my back. I screamed in pure agony as the scars on my back burned as though several whips made out of fire had struck me, he brought his foot down savagely on my back, which only sped my descent. _BOOM_! I slammed into the pavement face first. The Tengu Warriors, who had watched the battle peered through the dust that rose up, trying to get a glimpse of me, Goldar floated in the air and stared down, like the Tengus, he was trying to see past the dust and dirt, with a wave of his hand and concentrating he summoned a wind and peered down at his work. He smirked as he saw me crumbled, apparently broken in a crater.

Goldar floated down toward me until he was directly above me, pointed his hand and began to fire at my back, my body jerked and convulsed as I was hit over and over again. He began to laugh as he fired again and again. He only stopped when he saw that my back was open and bleeding heavily. He landed in the crater, prodding me with one foot he saw that I didn't even twitch.

"She's dead." he proclaimed to his Tengu army, they all let out cheers. Goldar squatted down and turned me over on my back, he brushed some hair away from my face and looked down at me, he bent his face close to my face but froze. I had cracked open one eye and at the same time had grabbed on of his pig tails in one hand.

"I......will....not....be.....beaten......by...the....likes.....of....you." I whispered. He began try to tug his pigtail lose, but before it slipped from my grasp....

"Power.....Ranger....Power.....Blast....." Goldar let out a scream as he was flung into the air followed by the Tengus as the Blast flung all of them as far away from me as it possibly could.

My hand fell back to my side, I breathed out a sigh, I was exhausted, I wanted to sleep for the rest of the year, my entire body ached and throbbed. I looked up at the sky, it seemed unnaturally blue plus the sun was unnaturally bright it seemed...unreal that the sky could look like this after the battle that took place underneath it. I closed my eyes, my locket glowed and spread its healing power over my entire body. _My body is healed...yet why does it feel like it still hurts?_ I smiled to myself as I answered my own question. _Because I took one hell of a beating that's why._ I heard something beeping. Opening my eyes and shifting them left and right I finally found the source, my mini computer, I stared in amazement. _Incredible. It doesn't look at all damaged. But what is it doing....huh must have fallen out of my pocket during the battle. _I laughed out loud at the hilarity of it. _My body gets damaged and yet my computer only gets a few scratches and dents. _It beeped again, I tried to summon it but my mind was too tired, finally after several tries(results were that it shifted ever so slightly in my direction) I finally had it in my hand, opening it up, I heard Magno's voice.

"Amy, where are you? Dex can't hold off the Psycho Rangers much longer."

"Yeah," said another voice "The rookies are not much help either."

"Chopper be quiet!" I took a breath, wet my dry lips and spoke, amazed that my voice still sounded strong after everything that I went through.

"Tell Dex to hang in there, I'm on my way."Closing my computer, I forced myself to sit up, almost immediately my back began screaming in protest, gritting my teeth and doing my best to ignore the new pain, plus the pain that my entire body was going through(despite my healing power), I staggered to my feet, climbed out of the crater, retrieved my sword from where it had fallen and proceeded to morph into liquid and head in the direction of the old library. It took most of my strength(and a little help from whoever stopped the Psychos from completely destroying my teammates and fiancee) I sent a Power Blast that came up from the ground right where the Psychos were standing, so that as they were vanishing, they were screaming. I fell to my knees, not at all sure if I was up for teleporting back to the Mega Ship. Dex, jogged toward me and helped me up, I leaned against him gratefully, Magno and Chopper came toward me as well.

"Jesus Amy! You look like hell." said Chopper. I laughed as I turned toward him.

"_I feel_ like hell, is everyone all right? Where's Zhane?" I asked looking around.

"Over here." Zhane called as he came jogging out of the building and hurried over to his friends who were on the ground. I decided to forgot about my anger towards him. _I'll beat him up later._ Dex turned toward me.

"What happened? Goldar give you a run for your money?" I laughed again.

"And then some. How are the others?" Dex craned his neck to look over at my team mates.

"A bit battered and bruised, but they should be alright after some rest." I nodded.

"What _you_ need is some of the same thing." said Magno. Dex slipped an arm underneath my legs and picked me up, I put my arms around his neck, feeling safe in his arms.

"Second that," I said. "Thank you. all of you for helping out Andros and the others."

"Hey, no problem Amy." said Combat Chopper.

"Yeah, anytime." said Magno.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Dex hugged me close, glad that I was alright. I turned my neck so that I could take in the damage that my team mates suffered at the hands of the Psycho Rangers, all of them looked as if they had gotten their butts kicked big time...and then some. They looked as if they could use some of my healing power, unfortunately I had used most of my power in that last attack and what little healing power I had left, I had used on myself, to heal my eyes. Goldar had severely blinded me when he had unleashed those fireballs. I started to stiffed as pain lanced from my back through my body, and I let out a gasp of pain, when Dex said these next words.

"Why is your back.....?" started Dex. He leaned me forward a bit and peered at my back, curios as to why he felt wetness on his arm where my back rested. I cursed myself angrily. _Shoot! I was hoping to hide what Goldar did to my back from everyone_.

"Oh my god, Amy you're bleeding!" _I wish he wouldn't make a big deal of it._ I thought grumpily as the others began to crowd around me. They began to ask me questions about what had gone on in the fight between Goldar and myself. I was too tired to answer questions, plus all I wanted to do was sleep for a full year and maybe more. Luckily Dex spoke up for me.

"Amy will answer questions later." snapped Dex angrily. "Right now we have to get her some medical help. Amy, why aren't you healing yourself? Amy? Amy!" Dex had given me a little shake for my head had fallen on his shoulder. I lifted up my head and gave it a small shake.

"I'm all right. Just tired. That fight with Goldar was tough."

"I'll get you to the Mega Ship." He promised. DECA, at the request of the others, had us all teleported to the Ship. Once there Dex carried me to my room and laid me down on my bed, I let out a small sigh as I felt the soft mattress underneath, I closed eyes gratefully, thinking that I was going to get the rest that I so desperately needed, I made myself forgot all about the other problems that my team mates and I were facing.

Dex, meanwhile, didn't forget, turning he hurried to my bathroom where he ran a warm bath for me, coming out of the bathroom he stood still for a minute, he had never seen me this weak before. As he hurried out of the room to find some food he couldn't help but think. _Amy must have been able to barely keep up with Goldar, the battle must have been overtaxing for her. _He dashed onto the bridge, everyone looked up at him. He ignored their questions about what was going on.

"Where do you guys keep your food here? Do you have a mess hall?"

"Y–yeah, it's just down the hall, there's a machine that dispenses the food and...." started Zhane but Dex had already dashed off after saying a quick thanks. Arriving at the mess hall and after looking around for a bit he found "**Synthetron** " after hesitating for a bit, Dex approached the machine and began pressing the buttons, which made different kind of food appear on screen. _Soup. She needs soup. And bread._ As soon as the machine had spat the food out, Dex grabbed it and dashed back to my room, being careful not to spill anything. Setting down the food on my desk he went into the bathroom and saw that the water was still running, after testing the water so that it was the right temperature, he turned off the faucets. Then he went back out to bring me to the bath tub, my eyes were still closed Dex hoped that I was resting; I stirred a bit as he put his arms underneath me, he started a bit when he, once again, felt the wetness on my back. Glancing down at my covers and he saw that the blood from my back had soaked them. _I'll take care of those later._ He thought, his first priority was to help me get my strength back.

"Do you want to take a bath first or eat?" He asked me softly, _maybe I should let her rest first. _He was a bit surprised when he saw me shake my head.

"No, I want to get cleaned up first." I said weakly, I didn't like the feel of blood on my back...it brought back memories.

"Maybe you should rest first Ames." He stopped and looked at me more closely, my face was contorted in pain. My teeth were gritted, I had shut my eyes, thinking that if I could shut my eyes I could shut down the pain that was coming in wavelength all over my body. _Her back. _He finally realized. He lifted me up and cradled me close to his chest wishing that he could give some of his energy so that I could heal myself. Carrying me into the bathroom, he debated on whether or not to change into Dex Stewart. _DECA doesn't look into the bathrooms, but....what if one of the Rangers comes in?_ Lowering me, slowly and carefully into the water, he winced as I let out a gasp of pain as my back touched the water, which changed to a sigh as my body became completely submerged. Slowly the water began to turn red, Dex took a step back, turned and walked over to a cabinet, finding a wash cloth and two towels, he turned and place one of the towels on the toilet seat cover next he strode over to the sink, turning on both faucets until the sink was full with lukewarm water, he dipped the washcloth into the water, wrung it, turned and walked back toward the tub, folding the second towel, he bent and gently slid one hand underneath my head, lifted it, and slide the towel underneath my head. Next he began to wash my face clean of the dirt and blood. For a few minutes there was nothing but silence in the room except for the sounds of water moving gently in the tub and my quiet breathing. Dex was sure that I had fallen asleep, he smiled as he brushed strands of hair from my face. _It's true what Rocky said. Amy is cute looking when she's sleeping._ He frowned slightly. _Note: have a talk with him about checking out future wives._ I stirred slightly.

"Think you up for some soup?" he said in a low voice. My stomach rumbled. My lips formed a small smile.

"I'll take that as a yes." He got up and exited out of the bathroom.

"DECA, could you tell the others that Amy's resting and is not to be disturbed?"

"Yes Masked Rider."

"Thanks." He walked over to my desk, picked up the bowl of soap and the bread and went back into the bathroom. Approaching the tub, he went down on his knees beside me, set the bowl of soup on the floor, tore off a chunk of bread, dipped it in the soup, slipped a hand underneath my head and lifted it a bit and held the bread to my lips. He brushed the bread against my lips but they wouldn't open.

"Come on Amy." Dex implored softly. "I know you're tired, even more tired than usual, but you have to eat." I finally opened my mouth and took a bite, I chewed and swallowed. I repeated the action over and over again until I had eaten both halves of the bead. Next Dex started me on the soup, which was still warm, after eating some of it he was relieved to see that some of the color was returning to my face, a short while later my eyes fluttered open and I looked up into the mask of my beloved.

"Dex." I whispered. He gave me a relieved smile, even though I couldn't see it from beneath his mask, still I knew him well.

"Amy, thank god! Even though, I knew that you were resting, still I–I thought....."

"I'm okay Dex, I'm okay." I smiled at him.

"Could you not do that ever again? You really had me worried there." He said in a half stern tone.

"Sorry it's just that, I had to go full out on Goldar, you know how powerful that guy is!" Dex nodded while lifted up another spoonful of soup to my mouth.

"Yes, and unfortunately with that power within the staff of his, he's a major threat." He said grimly.

"You can say that again." I said wearily. After I had eaten Dex helped me out of tub so that it could be drain of the red water, I winced as I watched the red water swirl and make a gurgling sound as it went down the drain.

"I'll refill the bathtub, you just get ready for your bath." I nodded wearily looking forward to getting clean and taking a nice long nap.

Even though I was still a bit weak, I managed to get to my room and collapsed on my bed. But as soon as I had sat down, I didn't want to do anything but sleep, my arm and legs still felt like lead and I didn't think I had the strength to start removing my clothing. _Well, there is an easier way._ I thought. _I just wonder if I'm up to it. _Closing my eyes and concentrating my weary mind on the task, I managed(after a couple of tries) to morph myself out of my clothes. Slithering from underneath the heap of clothing, I materialized slowly and had to grab onto my desk to steady myself as the entire room spun. I closed my eyes then re opened them as I staggered over to my closet for my robe, vaguely thinking of Dex and his reaction at seeing me in my birthday suit. Opening the closet's doors and fumbling for a bit, I managed to knock my robe off it's hanger and onto the floor. _Great, not only can't I take off my clothes for a bath or get a simple robe out of my closet I would be a pretty easy target to eliminate if any of my enemies showed up._ Letting out a grunt, I stooped, picked up the robe, took a few steps back, until I hit the bed and began to struggle to slip into my robe. After tying the belt securely, I attempted to get up to go to the door and ask if the bath was ready. But no matter how hard I tried...._Blast, that battle.....Goldar really gave me a run for my money, he definitely knows how to control that power almost as well as I can control mine._ I called out to Dex.

"M.R. is it ready yet?" I called feeling slightly foolish but all too aware that DECA could be listening in. The bathroom door slid back and Dex was in the doorway.

"Yeah, just about." he stood looking at me for a moment.

"I can't get up seriously." I gave him a half apologetic smile. Making a small noise Dex walked over to me, picked me up again and carried me back into the bathroom. Once near the tub, Dex set me down in the tub(standing up) and turned away as I derobed.

"Okay." I called to him as I sat back down in the tub and leaned back so that my head was resting on the towel, he turned but kept his eyes on my face as he handed me a loofah, some body soap, then went around to the head of the tub, and began to wet my head and lather it with shampoo. We didn't talk, just kept on washing or rinsing, Finally I sat up straight then leaned forward and began to attempt to wash my back.

"Jesus!" Dex cried out startling me, I turned to face him. He had leaped up and was staring at my back, with a sick look on his face. I was surprised to see that he had demorphed, into his civilian form. It also took me a while to realize that this was the first time that Dex had seen my back. When I had told him of my brief stint as a henchman of Lord Zedd I had failed to tell him what was done to me whenever The Power Rangers beat us.

"Wh–where did all these scars.....? Who did this to you?" Dex demanded angrily, using the anger to hide his shock and disgust.

"Was did Goldar? Was it Nefaria?" He went top the side of the tub, grabbed my shoulders and shook them.

"Amy tell me, where did these scars come from? Why do you have so many?"

"There from my enslavement days." I snapped at him, suddenly angry.Dex's eyes widen in shock.

"Enslavement? You were enslaved to Lord Zedd?" My anger began to slowly ebb away as I relieved that I should have told him this a long time ago.

"Yes, a horrible period in my life, not to mention painful," I rotated my shoulders and winced as I felt my back flare up in pain. Concentrating extremely hard on a wash cloth, I attempted to use it to wash my back, but halfway before it could reach me, it began to wobble until it finally fell. _I guess I'm not to full strength yet. _Dex looked down at the wash cloth, after a moment he stood up, bent down, picked it up, walked over to the sink and wet it with warm water. After wringing the washcloth, preformed an about face, walked back toward me and stopped. I looked up at him thinking that he was angry that I had kept a secret from him, I opened my mouth to apologize but no sound came out. Silently he moved until he was behind me, I turned my head so that I saw him get down on his knees. With the washcloth in hand, he stretched out his arm and began to slowly and gently wash my back. I looked at him in surprise then smiled gratefully. After a while Dex said quietly.

"I understand Amy, about not wanting to talk about something painful and horrible that happened in your life. I'm not surprised that you didn't tell me, being enslaved.....it's a part of your life that you want to forget, that you wish had never happened, that you wish that it were all just one big nightmare that has finally ended....but at the back of your mind you know that you're only fooling yourself. Everything that you thought was a nightmare was for real, you have the memories and the scars to prove it. Oh, you know that the memories will soon fade and become distant and vague and you'll forget all about that time. But not the scars....no mater how much time has passed....scars are forever." He had stopped washing my back, I turned to him and was a bit surprised that he had painful look on his face. For a while neither of us spoke.

"Y-y-you sound as if you know what's it like..." I finally said in a low voice. Dex looked at me for a long moment then he nodded his head.

"Remember when I told you about my home planet Edenio and how it was under the tyrannical rule of Count Dregon?"

"Yes." Dex hesitated then continued to wash my back, I faced away from him and stared at the mirror above the sink.

"My people aren't just underneath his rule....they were his slaves as well." I whipped my head around and stared at him shocked then it slowly began to dawn on me.

"While you were on Edenio.....you were one of...." I couldn't say it but he said it for me.

"Yes, Dregon stripped me of my standing and forced me into labor alongside my people." His eyes flashed with hatred and sadness, I was pretty sure that he was envisioning his time on Edenio before his Grandfather gave him the Masked Rider powers. He continued but I wasn't sure if he was still talking to me or to himself.

"I got to know my people, more than a prince should. I learned about their suffering, their pain and their loss and their longing to be free from Count Dregon's rule. I kept fearing that they were losing hope, that they would never be free, and that secretly, they hated Grandfather and me."

"Why would they....?" I started in surprise. I heard Dex stand and watched him as he walked over to the sink and stared into the mirror.

"A king is supposed to protect his people from any and all harm, from any invasion, from any threat!" He suddenly snarled, his hands were balled into fists, his eyes flashed with anger.

"He should have known that this would happen, he should have known, he is his father after all and a father is supposed to know his son!" _He's talking about Lexian and Dregon._

"B–but he couldn't have known! Lexian couldn't have known that Dregon would turn against his father or turn his people and his nephew into slaves." Dex whirled and glared at me, I stared back at him.

"He should have!" He snarled. "Blast him! He should have seen. He should have known that he would come back and....." I continued to stare at him for a few moments, I thought of Eltar. Of my people, of my mother and my father. _They too should have known. _Then I said quietly.

"Do you hate him?" he blinked.

"What?"

"Do you hate him?"

"Who, Dregon?" I shook my head.

"No, your grandfather."

"Why would I hate....?" He stared at me shocked. I sighed.. As I struggled to my feet, Dex turned and stepped forward to help me, but I managed to get out of the tub. I leaned against it for a few minutes then began to limp toward him, grabbing a towel that had been set on the seat cover of the toilet I wrapped it around my body and approached him. Looking up into his face, I reached up and placed my hands on both sides of his face.

"Because of what happened to you and your people, he could have prevented everything, everything that had happened if..." I was about to say " if only Lexian had killed Dregon in their duel for the crown" but I didn't Instead I said. "If he had been given a warning of Dregon's return, then he could have built up an army, fought Dregon's forces, and saved your people." Dex shook his head. He spoke bitterly.

"Even if _there _had been a warning, my people still would have been made into slaves, they didn't know how to fight or had any weapons in which to defend themselves with." My mother sprang into my mind, she also didn't know how to fight or didn't have any weapons to defend herself against Dregon. I felt wetness on my hands, looking up I saw that Dex was crying.

"Why didn't he kill.....? He should of killed......when they were dueling for the crown...then none of this would have happened! My people would be free! My parents would be alive, I wouldn't....I wouldn't....." Dex put his head on my shoulder and began to cry. I was near tears myself, I knew what Dex was going through, I alone thought that the events that have led my life up until now could have been changed. Dex hugged me tightly, I let out a small grunt of pain but hugged him back.

"You'll free them." I softly said.

"You'll kick Dregon and his army's butts so bad that they won't know which way is up." Dex laughed, released me and took a step back. He sniffed and wiped his eyes.

"Thanks Amy, man I had no idea that......" I smiled sadly.

"War can do that to a person." He nodded, picking me up he carried me back to my room, as soon as we reached the doorway, his belt glowed and he turned in the Masked Rider again, setting me down the bed we kept our arms around each other, finally slowly almost reluctantly we released each other. As he made his way toward my door he turned his head.

"I'll let the others know that you're okay." I nodded my thanks.

"Think you can bring me something more to eat?"

"Sure thing. What would you like?" I thought a minute.

"Tacos would be nice, it's been a while."

"Tacos it is." Turning toward the hallway he walked out the door leaving me alone so that I could dry myself and get some fresh clothes on.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

After bringing the tacos, Dex sat down in the desk chair and told me what had gone on between the battle with the Psycho Rangers and my team mates and him, while I had gone to the shopping center.

"The other Psychos did something to Andros and the others, I didn't see exactly what because I was busy with the Yellow Psycho Ranger, but when I had a chance I glanced at them and saw that all of them were on the ground. Magno and Chopper were busy trying to protect them from the other Psychos…..but whatever they did to them….they did it fast and hard. I didn't see anything else but then Psycho Yellow said "Ha! They did it! Now all we have to do is find the Yellow Ranger and we'll be able to beat these guys no problem." She then threw me to one side and I watched as she and the other Psychos started to approach Andros and the others, Chopper and Magno had been blasted backward, I was about to get up and use myself as a shield, but then something happened!" Dex paused and raised his eyes to the ceiling for a moment.

"What happened?" I asked impatiently, leaning toward him. He lowered his gaze toward me.

"The Psychos stopped dead in their tracks; they grabbed their heads and began to groan….I saw electricity running up and down their bodies and at first I thought that maybe it was you that stopped them, but you weren't around. Anyway, I had a feeling that something….much more stronger was stopping them from finishing Andros and the others off, I was about to attack the Psychos, thinking that this would be my last chance; when you came in and blasted them away." I stared at him confused by what he had just told me. _Not one of the Psychos asked about my whereabouts. Not one of them knew where I was? And the electricity that had engulfed them before they could kill my team mates. Where did it come from? Did it come from Astronema or Dark Specter? Why did they stop the Psychos in the first place? _I looked up at Dex and began to struggle to my feet.

"Where are the others?"

"Their on the bridge; I've already did my best to patch them up but they still seem shaky." He said as he supported me as we made our way out the door and down the hall.

"How much have they recovered from the attack?" I asked.

"They've recovered about…..I don't know…about half their strength I should say, I left them in Alpha's care while I tended to you." I stopped in surprise.

"Tentomon's here?" Disappointment went through me as Dex shook his head.

"No, I mean Alpha-6." We kept on walking. Reaching the bridge I was relieved to see that my team mates were alright.

Andros and the others turned when Dex and I entered the bridge. I was relieved that they were still standing and thanked god that Dex had answered my call.

"Any serious injuries?" Even though I had recovered some of my strength; it wasn't enough to heal. _I shouldn't have used the last of my healing energy on myself._ I cursed silently._ These guys needed it more than I. _Looking at all of them, I could see that they probably didn't rest comfortably, due to the injuries that the Psychos gave them. Limping over to a chair, I sat down, and leaned my head back and closed my eyes; wanting nothing more than to sleep for a month or two.

"You alright?" TJ asked. I nodded, even through in truth I wasn't. I sat up.

"The Masked Rider has already told me what had gone on while I was battling Goldar at the mall, and he also told me that they did something to all of you." My team mates were silent for a moment.

"Yes, they did." Said Cassie, she suddenly wrapped her arms around herself. I looked at her curiously. Andros began to explain what had happened, I stiffened and my eyes widen in shock. _I thought that only Goldar and Lord Zedd had that that kind of power, that they were the only ones that were capable of doing such a thing_. I was surprised that all of them were even standing. _Wait, this is different. Whenever Goldar or Lord Zedd would steal my power, I would feel intense pain, so intense that there were times when I welcomed death, just to end it. Plus, I wouldn't be able to move for a full Twenty Four hours. _I shuddered at the memory. _But with these guys….what the Psychos did to them, they only had their knowledge stolen._ It looked as though it had the same effect though, only on a lesser scale. I turned to Zhane. Dex had also told me that Zhane had been in the building and hadn't been subjected to the same attack.

"Zhane are you alright?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Did they say anything to you while you were held captive?" He thought for a moment then shook his head. I frowned then turned back to the others.

"How did the Psycho Rangers know that Zhane was a Power Ranger?" Immediately Cassie and the others launched into an explanation of what had went on in the Juice Bar in Angel Grove.

"There are these computers that give off the same sound as our communicators….the Psychos must have locked onto our signal and were using that to find us." TJ stepped forward.

"I had accidentally called Zhane using the communicator and that's how they found him." I blinked, then frowned in thought. _The Psychos had no idea where I was, even though I was using large amounts of my power, I'm surprised that they didn't sense it and rushed off to my location. _It stuck me as a bit strange to have an enemy who was relying on a sound that our communicators gave off in order to locate us, instead of honing in the amount of power that we were using.

"What are we going to do?" asked Cassie, she looked haunted.

"Thanks to that mind read thing that they did on us, they'll know our every thought and move."

"Yeah, how are we supposed to fight these guys?" Asked TJ.

"They might even know what type of fighting styles that we use and block them." said Carlos.

All of them began to talk over each other trying to voice solutions or ideas that might help them beat the Psycho Rangers, I motioned to Dex, he leaned down so that he could hear me properly.

"I was right, Astronema had been brainwashed so well that she had forgotten what we looked like."

"Since she doesn't know, her Psycho Rangers are relying on the technology that they have in order to find you guys. In this case; the sound of the communicators." Dex murmured. I nodded.

"Someone must have told them, probably made a recording of some sort so that the Psychos know the tone."

"And can track it, regardless of where you guys are." He said grimly.

"We have to figure out a way to throw them off somehow, so we won't be tracked so easily." I raised an eyebrow. _We? _Instead of saying anything, I nodded.

"Yeah, and I think I have just the thing. Our old communicators." Dex looked at me in surprise but then he got it.

"Brilliant." I grinned at him.

"I just have to modify them a bit, and that can be done pretty easily."

"Would you like me to get the communicators?" I nodded.

"Yeah. Their in my room; in my desk drawer and could you bring my mini computer as well?" Dex straighten up, turned and hurried out of the door, the others, who noticed Dex's departure, stopped and turned toward me.

"Where's the Masked Rider going?" asked Zhane. I turned toward them.

"He's going to get something for me." _Why didn't they scan him? _ I thought for a minute_, _then come up with a conclusion_. There is no Silver Psycho Ranger. I guess there has to be a counter part to the Silver Ranger in order to successfully mind scan a Ranger. _Still, it was surprising.

"Speaking of the Masked Rider." Cassie said.

"Did you call him?" she pointed at me and I nodded.

"Yes, I called him, I had to. The fight with Goldar lasted a lot longer than I had anticipated, plus I wasn't sure if I would have enough strength after the battle to help you guys out with the Psychos." At that moment Dex returned with a box and my mini computer.

"I'm glad I called him." He nodded as he handed me the box.

"Glad to be of service." Carlos and the others had stepped forward and were looking at it curiously.

"What's in the box?" They soon saw what was in it, for I had opened it and was pulling out the old communicators. Zhane reached out a hand and lifted one.

"What are these?" Andros had taken one as well.

"There the old communicators, we used them when we were on Earth."

"Hmm." Zhane said scrutinizing them.

"Their primitive looking." My eyes flashed, anger rose within me.

"They may be 'primitive looking' to you, but they might come in handy." I growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, yeah?" Zhane said.

"How?" asked Andros.

"Well, I could modify them so that we have a direct communications link with each other and the Ship; the Psychos won't be able to track us using these because the tone of these communicators will have a different tone." Taking my mini computer from Dex, I took out the extension, plugged it into the back of my computer, and hooked it up to the main console that was in front of me, took off my communicator, set it on the table, and scanned it. Next I took one of the old communicators, scanned that one as well and began to type. Bringing up the schematics of the communications system of the Astro Mega Ship, and finding the link between the communicators and the Ship, I disconnected it, and then replaced the new communicators with the old ones.

"There." I said. "Their all hooked up and ready to go." As if one cue one of the communicators beeped. Cassie, TJ and Carlos looked down at them in surprise.

"Hey, that's the….." TJ started.

"The tone that would summon the Power Rangers." I said while trying to swallow the lump that had risen in my throat. Hearing the old tone again reminded me of the Command Center and the Power Chamber, my friends, Tentomon, Dad, Ninjor and all of the happy times that we used to have. I looked around at all of them.

"We'll be using these from now on."

"Hold it." Said Andros as the others began to take off their old communicators and put on their new ones on their wrists.

"We're one communicator short. You don't have one." I smiled at him.

"Not to worry Andros, my mini computer also acts as a communicator; it's already hooked up to the Mega Ship communications system. We're all set." Although I was a little bummed that I wouldn't be using my old communicator, I figured that it would probably be easier. _Besides, I'll probably answer it thinking that Dad is on the other end instead of A-6 or DECA._

"Okay, that's one problem solved." Said Cassie. Zhane and Andros were both looking at their wrist communicators with dubious expressions on their faces.

"Now what about the Psycho Rangers? How are we going to beat them?" I frowned at her.

"I'm not sure….that one is actually going to take some time in figuring out." Cassie scowled at me then turned back to the others to think up some strategies. I rolled my eyes, I_ don't have the answers to every problem, in fact some take more time than usual to figure out. _Zhane saw that I had slumped over a bit in the chair.

"You haven't gotten your full strength back?" I shook my head.

"That fight with Goldar, I had to go all out." Carlos had a concerned look on his face.

"But you were alright in the end, right? You beat him." I looked into his face for a minute and then looked away.

"Just barely." I said in a low voice.

"He's that powerful?" asked Andros. A stirring of guilt wormed through me. _You have no idea. _ I didn't say so out loud, knowing that they had the Psychos to deal with. So all I said was…

"I'll deal with him." I stood up began to limp toward the door. Dex, with an arm around my waist, helped support my weight as we made our way down the hall.

For a while neither of us spoke, then I confessed with a nervous glance at Dex,

"I'm kind of glad that this happened, I've never liked the new communicators, I'd much prefer the old ones or my mini computer." Dex let out a grunt and nodded.

"It was sheer luck that you didn't use your communicator or Psycho Yellow would have found you, and along with Goldar, both of them would have made short work of you." He was surprised when I shook my head.

"I don't think that would have happened. Goldar wants to be the one, the only one to kill me. If Psycho Yellow had made an appearance he would have chased her off or destroyed her." I frowned. "If he would have done that, then Andros and the others would have one less Psycho Ranger to worry about."

"Yes, a pity." Dex said with a bit of a chuckle. We were nearing my room.

"I'm surprised that Andros and the others didn't ask you the all important question."

"Why had the Psycho Rangers vanished when they had my team mates on their knees?" I asked the question for him. He nodded. Then he said in a teasing tone.

"Are you psychic as well?" I smiled, then shook my head.

"Her mind, is a lot like Zedd's, only instead of focusing on trying to destroy one Ranger, she's focusing on destroying all of us."

"Can you predict her next move?"

"I think so." I said after a moment's thought. _I should be able to._ _I hope._

"So, why did she suddenly call them back?" I thought for a minute.

"She wants to choose a specific place and time to destroy us." Dex nodded in agreement.

"I thought so; it's something that Dregon would have done….if his Insectivores weren't so easy to defeat." I could hear the small smile in his voice, I frowned at him. Chopper had told me on a number of occasions how close the Masked Rider had nearly been beaten by Count Dregon's Insectivores. The worst part for me was that I really couldn't remember if, on that the night that I had been killed by Zedd, Goldar and Rito, and my powers were taken away, Count Dregon had also taken a part in draining me as well. I had asked Combat Chopper and Magno if Dregon's Insectivores and henchmen seem stronger.

"Stronger? Eh…no more than usual." Said Chopper.

"Why do you ask Amy?" Asked Magno.

"Oh, just wondering that's all." Knowing full well that Dex was probably going to ask questions when Chopper and Mango had told about my visit, I had decided to tell the truth.

"Okay, I'm just worried that along with Zedd, Dregon may have stolen a part of my power and shared it with his Insectivores and henchmen."

"Count Dregon? Share anything with his clowns?" Combat Chopper and Magno began to laugh. It had suddenly clicked for me then and there that Count Dregon would never do such a thing as share power with his minions. _Just like Goldar would never want to share the glory of being the first person to take down the most powerful Ranger in a battle, with anybody._ It had come as a relief to me, but it still didn't exactly answer my question. Although I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer.

"So are you worried about the Psycho Rangers?" Asked Dex. I burst out laughing.

"Worried? About the Psychos?" I gave a snort.

"Please, they are as easily defeat able as Zedd's old monsters when he had them souped up on….that power that he gave them. You just have to out maneuver them that's all."

"Yes but…Andros and the others are human. They don't have the same power as you." He pointed out mildly. _Oh yeah._ I frowned. _If only Cassie and the others had been given the power to execute a Power Ranger Power Blast…..but even if they could, that still wouldn't be enough. The Psychos are faster, stronger and more powerful than my team mates. Plus they are aliens; it takes an alien to defeat an alien. _We had reached my room and entered it; Dex settled me down onto my bed and went out the door saying that he was going to get me some food.

"You need to regain your full strength." He said. I had a feeling that he was referring to the chance that Goldar might make another appearance. I gave him a small smile to reassure him, although I sensed worry coming off of him in waves. I made myself comfortable on my bed, closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But even through I was tired; my mind kept alerting me to something. _Only an alien can defeat an alien. _I frowned to myself. _Did I really think that? Did I really think that no human can stand to these evil creatures who, for one reason or another, attack planet Earth or Angel Grove? Did I really think, just because I was half alien, that I was stronger, more powerful, than my team mates? No, _I thought. _I'm not. I know I'm not. My powers and emotions have been used against me time and again. _I remembered Justin, and the vision of my friends surrounding me, accusing fingers pointing at me. Plus the horror of reliving that terrible day when I had killed Aisha. _No, I'm not all powerful; if I was then a lot of things would be different. _At that moment Dex stepped into the room, much to my relief, in his hands was a plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Later after resting and finally having regained the ability to walk without Dex supporting me. I went back to the bridge and healed my team mates; they were no closer at figuring out a way to defeat the Psychos. I left them to it while Dex and I walked out the door; he wanted to talk to me.

"I was really worried about you Amy, I'm….I'm really glad that you're alright." I gave him a small smile. He didn't return it.

"Golder sent you through the wringer big time." Dex said tensely.

"He sure did. But I'm alright, all I needed was a good clean up, some rest and food in my tummy and I'm ready for the next battle." I heard Dex sigh and felt his hand, which was in mine, tighten. When he next spoke, apprehension was in every syllable.

"That's what is worrying me. What if the next battle turns out to be much worse or he makes his attacks more powerful? What if you can't _stop_ his next attack? Amy, I've just seen what Goldar did to you earlier today and I seriously don't like it."

"So what do you want me to do?" I asked him, deciding that it would be best not to make false reassurances and just straight to the point.

"Do you want me to just stop fighting? Because you know what will happen if that I do that."

"I'm not asking you to." Dex snapped impatiently.

"What then?" I snarled. Before he could answer I plowed on.

"You know as well as I do that there is no one else that can even stand up to him. No one except me. I'm the only one that can stand up to any and all of his attacks; I'm the only one that can stand up to his army of Tengu Warriors. I can keep up with him, speed for speed, strength for strength and power for power."

"You can do that at only half his speed, half his power and half his strength. You're half alien in case you've forgotten." Dex shouted angrily, grabbing me and shaking me. I tore free and glared at him.

"YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KEEP REMINDING ME." I yelled at him.

"To tell you the truth I don't give a damn wHEther I'm half alien or full, I don't give a damn that I can just barely keep up with him in battle, and I certainly don't give a god for saken damn that he easily kill me just like I….." _I __can't tell him! I can't!_ I leaned against him and was glad that he didn't move away from me, was relieved when he put his arms around me.

"I just want all of this to stop." I said in a low voice that cracked with emotion.

"I want to go back to my old life, I want to go back to living with my sisters and brothers and my mom and dad, I don't want anymore craziness or pain in my life anymore. Dex….sometimes I think…..that it would be easier if I just…finally cracked, just gave up and _allow_ Goldar to end my life." He tighten his grip around me.

"But if you did that….what would happen to your friends, your team mates?" He paused then in a low whisper.

"To me? Y—you've been the only thing that's kept me going. The thing that's been keeping me sane. I—if you gave up, then….." Dex took a breath then said in a choked voice,

"I don't want to lose you Amy, without you, I truly would be lost." I closed my eyes briefly, never having given any thought to just how many people really counted on me. _I really am selfish._ When I opened them again, I gave a weary sigh and took a step back.

"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that….."

"I understand." Dex interrupted softly, for a few minutes we just stood there, holding onto each other. A few moments of silence passed as we continued to walk down the hall, Dex was the one to break it.

"I'm telling you Amy, after all of this, we are going to need a loooooong vacation." I nodded.

"Yeah like say…….three years?" Dex laughed.

"I was leaning more toward a one year vacation. Or two. I'll ask Grandfather if he's up to staying King for a few more months." I smiled.

"I was just thinking….with everything that the king has been through, after the wedding and the crowning coronation, I'm thinking of sending your….I mean our….Grandfather on a vacation…..I'm pretty sure that he needs it."

"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. I'll talk to him later ad see what he says."

**Sorry this took so long, my computer crashed erasing the first version of this chapter.**


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Thanks to my idea, we were no longer at the mercy of the Psycho Rangers locking onto our communicator signal, and nailing us with surprise attacks. Too bad we couldn't say the same for Goldar and the Tengu Warriors, they always seemed to know where we were. But then again, that didn't surprise me. _If Lord Zedd could find me, then so can Goldar._ I was beginning to think that my team mates didn't know who the bigger threat was: Goldar and the Tengu Warriors, or the Psycho Rangers. Okay, I have to admit that the Psycho Rangers had my team mates beat by the mind scan, which gave them access to every battle strategy, every weakness, every thought and idea that went through their heads not to mention every kind of fighting move that they use in our day to day battles. It was pretty much like battling copies of themselves. I would help out whenever I could, and thanks to my powers I was able to block each and every attack that they threw at me. The Yellow Psycho Ranger never even came close to performing the mind scan on me. After getting rid of the rubbish I would see just how much damage they had inflicted on Andros and the others. Unfortunley before I could heal my comrades of their injuries Goldar would come flying out of nowhere and begin his own assault. I would push the others away knowing that they were exhausted and battle Goldar on my own. It wasn't too bad, considering that he had more power and speed than I but I would manage.

Several times Masked Rider would come to my aid and help me chase off Goldar and his turkeys, usually with a combined "Ranger Kick and Rider Kick", after he would take off. Several times I thought about whether or not he really knew where Dad was being held and go to his location and drain Dad of his power, to make himself stronger and to punish him for training me so well. I kept praying to God that I was wrong.

With everything that has been happening; the thought of finding Dad had been pushed to the back of my mind; I had to focus on keeping my team mates alive, outwitting Goldar and figuring out a way to defeat the Psychos.

I think about the knowledge that the Psychos have on my team mates, and I can't help but worry a bit_._ _Andros and the others know all there is about me and yet….I can't help but be glad that I've kept some important things from them._ I hadn't told them about Aisha's spirit helping us out from time to time, or the Masked Rider's secret identity, still the amount of information that the Psychos could have on me, made me more than a little nervous. Then again…._what could they do with that information? What could Astronema or Dark Specter do? In reality? How could they use that against me? Or Dad?_ I thought of the possibility of Dark Specter being intrigued that Zordon of Eltar had a half-human daughter, who had the same power that he had and would send his armies to capture me. _Nah, if that were true; or wouldn't I be fighting against his armies right now instead of Astronema's Psycho Rangers and Goldar? _Suddenly a thought occurred to me. _Why _hadn't _Dark Specter set out his army after me? _It hit me as soon as an image of King Mondo popped into my head. King Mondo didn't even ask about me in any of our battles, nor did his henchmen or Prince Gasket. _In fact the only people that know about me and my dad are Lord Zedd, Goldar and Count Dregon. _Frowning slightly I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling wondering why word of a half-human with incredible power didn't spread far and wide to the far corners of the galaxy. _I should be the most hunted person there is. _I thought about it. _No, If I know my old master (and I do), he would have made sure that everyone kept their mouths shut about me, he would want my power all to himself and to no one else. He went after me about a dozen times and he went after those I cared about, knowing that a person could be broken and vulnerable when that person had failed to protect the people that she loves. _I thought of my mother and my step father, my adopted sister, Kimberly, my step brothers and sisters and my dad. All of them had been taken from me, as punishment and as a way to weaken me further and to make me doubt myself on whether or not I was really meant to take the place of the Yellow Ranger. I leaned forward and buried my face in my hands, the pain of losing everyone around me to the forces of evil weighed heavily on my shoulders.

_Why is this happening? Why is any of this happening? Is it because of me? Because I was born a half human? Is this some sort of punishment?_ The feeling of despair and guilt weighed even more heavily. I began to think that maybe everyone's lives would have been better off if I was never born. Almost unwillingly images of my friends rose up into my mind. After a couple of moments I slowly shook my head back and forth. _No, that's not true. Even if I was never born, never have fled to Earth, met up with Zedd and placed underneath that spell…..Aisha would still be dead, because another person would have been chosen to kill her, another person would have suffered through all the punishments and torture, another person would be suffering from the guilt and exhaustion that I'm feeling right now._ I leaned back in my chair and stared at the picture that I had brought back from Eltar. _Maybe.......just maybe….I was just born into this mess. _ I jumped when DECA's voice rang out over the PA system.

She was calling all of the Rangers to the bridge. Puzzled, I got up and started out the door and down the hall toward the bridge. Then it gave away to excitement, _maybe she found a lead on dad._ Quicken my pace as best as I could, Iarrived at the bridge and immediately began to ask questions.

"Do we have a lock on his location? How many of Astronema's army are guarding him?" Carlos and the others looked at me with perplexing expressions on their faces.

"What are you talking about?" asked Zhane. I stopped in my tracks and stared at all of them in amazement. _What am I talking about? Have they forgotten? _I started to get angry and opened my mouth, to remind them of the mission that all of us had set out to complete. Andros had gotten a flash of understanding; for he quickly said, while glaring at Zhane.

"No, we haven't found Zordon yet, but we will keep looking. We will let you know if we find him." He paused as I took a deep steadying breath to calm myself, my calmness though was soon replaced by annoyance. _If we haven't found a lead on dad then what's this meeting for?_

"What's happening now?" I asked sharply. It took them a while to answer, they had been startled by my tone.

"Well?" I snapped impatiently. Cassie faced me angrily yet her voice was somewhat worried.

"Someone knows that Carlos is a Power Ranger." I blinked and stared at her in surprise for a moment. _Is that all?_ It took me a while to answer and when I did my tone was somewhat flat.

"Oh. " Andros blinked.

"Um….okay……how do you know that this…person knows that you're a Ranger?"

"This person contacted me." Carlos said. I raised an eyebrow.

"By….."

"E-mail! They sent it by e-mail." he snapped angrily. I ignored his anger.

"Okay, so that narrows our list of suspects down." Carlos began to sputter, Cassie took a step toward me, thunder on her face.

"List of suspects? But I…I know a lot of people in Angel Grove!" I spoke calmly, almost lazily.

"And how many have your email address?"

"A lot of people do. Anyone of them could have sent me this e-mail!" I let out a silent sigh.

"That's true, but if the email was sent to you very recently then who ever sent it has seen you morph _recently_. There is absolutely, positively no way that the person could have let this sort of thing be kept under wraps for a long time. That person would explode out of pure excitement." They all stared at me, I looked back at them and shrugged my shoulders.

"Hey, I would have." I clapped my hands once.

"Now before we get into that, Carlos, I have a question for you: Can you still morph?" He looked rather put out to be asked such a question.

"Of course I can!"

"Why do you ask?" asked Zhane. I turned toward him.

"Because; according to the rules that my father set down for us. If anyone should ever find out that we are Power Rangers, then our power to morph should vanish." Andros stared at me.

"You mean, You won't be Rangers anymore if someone finds out your secret?" I nodded.

"That's the rule. And we have been following it ever since we were given the power to morph."

"But people have found out who you guys were haven't they?" asked TJ. I frowned but nodded.

"Yes." I ticked off my fingers.

"Rocky Desantos, Adam Park and Aisha Campbell, Katharine Hillard, all of them found out that my friends and I were the Power Rangers before they became Rangers themselves. Oh, and Justin."

"If that's true, then why have you been able to morph after all this time?" asked Cassie. Again I shrugged my shoulders, then remembered Billy's theory, as I finished explaining they all looked at each other. Carlos looked slightly relieved.

"So this person could be an ally to us." He said hopefully.

"Still, just to be sure, you had better morph." Cassie scowled, I ignored her.

"Better safe than sorry." Was all I said. Carlos stepped forward, a determined look on his face he took a deep breath, said a bit of a prayer then morphed into the Black Ranger! The others let out cheers and sighs of relief, I only looked on silently. I was surprised that Carlos still had the power to morph despite someone finding out who he really was. _Maybe it's different this time around, because we are different Rangers. Then again, Dad must have made these morphers, so the rule must still apply. I just hope this person, whoever it is doesn't blab the secret to anyone else._ I stepped forward until I was in front of Carlos.

"Carlos, I could help you find out whoever sent you the e-mail, we could trace it back to its original source, find the person and I could use my powers to erase her/his mind of what they know." No sooner where the words out of my mouth, all heads turned toward me and instantly I knew that what I had just said was a mistake. Zhane broke the silence.

"Y-you can do that?" I started to nod meekly but then I shook myself angrily.

"I just found out about this power recently, but yeah, I can erase memories. And right now, I think we should find this person and begin erasing his/her knowledge of what she/he knows." Carlos stared at me.

"But why?" I stared at him in amazement.

"Carlos," I spoke to him slowly as though he were dim. "Don't you realize the danger this person is in? The Psychos could find out about this person and force him/her to reveal your secret identity." I didn't mention Goldar, thinking that at the mention of the Psycho Rangers, it would be enough to convince Carlos that we had to find this person. A question suddenly popped into my mind: How did this person even find out that Carlos was a Ranger? Whenever my friends and I had to dash off to either morph or answer our communicators, we would usually run into empty classrooms or bathrooms and we would make absolutely sure that no one was around. In those days I was afraid that my parents would forbid me to stay a Power Ranger, if they ever found out; now...I was afraid of Goldar and the Tengu Warriors finding out about this person and subjecting him/her to horrible things.

I was about to open my mouth and let him in on my thoughts, but Cassie interrupted me.

"Maybe you can talk to this person Carlos, you can convince them not to tell anyone, without having to wipe their memories." She shot me a cold look, I returning it with an angry glare. To my astonishment, everyone seemed to agree with her.

"Amy, how many times have you used this….ability?" asked TJ after a moment. I hesitated, even though we had been working together and fighting side by side for some time now, I had a sense that they still didn't fully trust me. Anger shot through me. _I've saved their lives and helped them out in battles a thousand times, I have proven myself to be an ally a thousand times over, even after they accused me of working for Goldar, even after they accused me of being evil. _A new thought popped into my mind: _Maybe it isn't suspicion or mistrust, what if it's….fear?_ _Fear? What reason would they have to fear me?_ I heard TJ calling to me, pulling myself back into reality, I set aside the question. I would answer it later.

"I've only used it once." I said rather truthfully. TJ blinked in surprise. Cassie took a step back as if I would suddenly attack her. The others were looking at me with suspicion in their eyes, A-6 cocked his head to one side.

"On who?" he asked. In that instant I thought it best if I only told the half truth, I was sure what their reactions would be if I told them that I had used my ability on Justin.

"Some little smart mouth who thought it would be really fun to blackmail the Power Rangers."

"On whose orders?" asked Carlos, his eyes studied me. I met his stare.

"My own, I had enough trouble staying one step ahead of the baddies that were after me, I didn't need some snot nosed brat complicating my life more." I shrugged my shoulders as my team mates looked startled at my coldness.

"Was it successful?" asked DECA after a moment. I nodded.

"The boy has no recollection of the identities of the Power Rangers. That's the only memory that I erased." I tried to look reassuring that I had confidence in this ability that I had, and that I had complete control over it.…my team mates still didn't look convinced. I tried with a different angle.

"My ability could help us now, think of the type of danger that this person could be in if Astronema or any of the Psycho Rangers found out that Carlos is a Ranger, how long do you think it'll take for them to find the rest of us? They could hurt her/him, thinking that if this person knows the Black Ranger's secret identity then he/she has to know ours."

They were all silent, I saw that Cassie and Carlos had worried looks on their faces Andros and Zhane were both talking to each other in low voices. TJ was staring up at the ceiling, a thoughtful look on his face. I began to feel hopeful, thinking that I had finally gotten through to them. Finally Andros turned to Carlos.

"Carlos, met with this person and explain to him/her to keep what she knows a secret. Amy, I'm sorry but we need to see if this person can keep Adam's identity a secret." Outrage went through me, I took a step forward struggling to keep my voice calm.

"But what if this person doesn't huh? What if he/she take advantage of what they know and make Carlos perform jobs and things that are completely beneath him?" I began to remember my enslavement, although it was under different circumstance, I wouldn't want anyone else being forced to perform jobs which normally they wouldn't do. I turned to Zhane since I didn't seem to get through to Andros.

"Zhane please, could you explain to these guys that I need to perform a mind wipe on this person. It's for their own safety as well as ours." Zhane was silent for a moment, an uncomfortable look on his face as he glanced at Andros. I thought for sure that he was going to speak up on my behalf and hope rose within me. Until he shook his head and my hopes were dashed.

"But…" I started.

"I'm sorry Amy but, there could be a chance that you can erase this person's entire identity."

"That's not going to happen!" I snapped angrily. I turned to the others, and began to hate myself as I began to beg.

"Just---just trust me on this. Please you guys! If I can stop this person from making Carlos do anything foolish then we can get on with our mission." I looked at all of them pleadenly, my team mates looked at each other. Andros sighed and closed his eyes for a bit then he opened them.

"Amy….it's not that we don't trust you…it's just that….well…there's the question of whether or not you can control this power." My eyes blazed.

"Control it? Of course I can control it!" I snarled. _Why are they not listening to me?_

To my amazement and outrage, Carlos said that he was going to go and met with this person. I opened my mouth to yell at them but Zhane turned to me saying that they'll give this person a chance to keep their mouth shut about what they know, if they couldn't then I could erase the memory of Carlos's identity. I had a feeling that even if this person did blab about Carlos being the Black Ranger, I would still be prevented from erasing his/her memory. Soon after that Carlos took off to meet the person. I decided to follow him. _Hey, it's not as if Andros ordered me not to follow Carlos, besides I want to see who this person is._ After Carlos left, I waited a good fifteen minutes before heading off myself, teleporting myself behind a tree and immediately morphing into a puddle of liquid I followed him until we reached the Fun Center. Hiding behind a pillar that was wide enough for me to remain hidden while I dematerialized; I saw that he was looking around with a nervous look on his face. A ripple of satisfaction went through me. _I hope that he's having second thoughts about me using my mind wiping powers. _A little girl began to head toward Carlos; she had a small smile on her face as she approached him. Idly I wondered who she was. Turing my attention back to the people around us, I tried to guess who the person was that knew Carlos's secret. I stiffen when I heard the girl that had approached Carlos, say rather proudly.

"You don't have to wait anymore. I'm here!" Carols turned towards her and began to try to make her go away, after looking around some more he began to walk away when the girl said something that made my blood freeze.

"You know you're pretty slow for a Power Ranger." I let out a gasp and clamped a hand over my mouth, hoping that they hadn't heard me. _No way! Is she really the person that sent Carlos the e-mail? How did she find out?_ Peeking out from my hiding place I saw Carlos was looking surprised as well. He tried to laugh it off and tell the girl, I found out later that her name was Silvy, that someone must be playing a joke on her, I heard him say something to her and start to walk away again when Silvy ran up to him and pulled out a strip of paper. I saw Carlos freeze as he looked down at the strip, narrowing my eyes a bit I saw that the strip of paper was actually one of those photograph strips that come out of the slots of photo booths.

"Oh no!" I breathed. As Carlos let out a moan and fell to his knees while Silvy gleefully danced around him.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

I stood frozen for a moment, staring in disbelief as Silvy tugged Carlos to his feet; and taking him by the hand, led him away to the various attractions at the Center. It soon changed to anger. _How stupid can Carlos be? Morphing in a photo booth?_ I shook my head. _Anyone with a brain knows not to morph in a freaking photo booth. Heck! Even my friends and I didn't ever think of those things! _I stepped out of my hiding place, still seething. I started to limp after them but stopped. _How am I going to explain my presence to Carlos? He'll probably work out that I'll try to erase Silvy's memory and try to stop me. _A picture of me confronting Carlos swept into my mind. _We'll probably end up fighting, and we don't have any need for that, not with the Psychos and Goldar out there._ _I'll have to keep my plans a secret from them. _I stood there for a minute, in a way, this was a good thing. It would show Carlos that he and the others should have listened to me in the first place instead of putting their faith in a little girl, thinking that she'll keep her mouth shut. On the other hand, the Psycho Rangers or even Goldar might find out about this and use this against us. A picture of Justin with that look of stark terror on his face swam in my mind's eye. Straightening my shoulders, I limped out of from my hiding place and began to follow them, trying to think of a way to get Silvy by herself just long enough for me to erase her memory. A flash of Andros and the others angry faces filled my mind, but I shook it away. _I don't give a damn about what the others will say._ _This girl has to be kept from danger. _Throughout the day, I kept waiting for my chance but Silvy stuck close to Carlo's side, dragging him to various rides and attractions and games. Not once did Carlos leave her side! _Come on, come on! At least separate long enough to go to the bathroom or something. _I wailed inwardly. Silvy went off to an ice cream truck, Carlos stayed behind looking glum and my pulse quickened. _Now's my chance!_ But before I could make a move, Silvy called over to Carlos and he sullenly trudged over to her. I silently cursed myself. _Need to be quicker._ Both of them began to move away and I followed. As I watched Silvy dance and prance before Carlos while he was carrying her things I couldn't help but start to envy her a bit. _When was the last time that I was that happy and carefree? Feels like years. _Sadness began to settle over me, as I began to remember long ago carefree days with my mother, step-brothers and step-sisters and step-dad when I was younger and the days before Zedd found me and my life turned into hell. I blinked back tears and tried to swallow the lump in my throat. _Never again. I can never go back to those days._

Oddly enough the day had been calm and even ordinary, I was thankful that Dex hadn't called me to ask for help in dealing with Dregon's minions or a monster, nor had he called just to want to hang out. Any other day it would have been a great time to kick back and relax, but it was the fact that the day was _too _peaceful that put me on edge. _A too peaceful day means that trouble is coming, and for my team mates, it could probably be more than they could handle. _I kept on high alert while at the same time waited (impatiently) for my chance to get Silvy alone. _Carlos and the others will understand why I have to do this, if they don't well…….too bad._ _It's for her our own safety as well as ours. _I was in a liquid state watching them eat lunch at a café that my friends and I would sometimes hang out at. _What's the story on this kid anyway?_ I thought suddenly. Sliding from underneath a chair, I quickly moved to a tall plant and materialized in a crouching position. Luckily no one spotted me. _Huh, I was invisible in elementary school, junior high and part of high school….a little strange that my invisibility should work for me right now._ In the back of my mind I couldn't help but think about all of those times when Zedd, Rito and Goldar were looking for a punching bag or a whipping post; that I prayed and wished and begged to be invisible, it never worked. Anyway, taking out my computer and opening it, I quickly scanned Silvy, morphed back into a puddle and darted a short distance away. Finding a bench in some sunlight, I opened my computer and saw what sort of data came up.

_Hmm…lives with her mom and dad, that's obvious. But what is her real deal? _I began to type, trying to see if my computer picked up anything else. _Says here; that she and her family moved to Angel Grove recently, because her brother was ill. _Angel Grove had some of the best doctors.But the brother had died a few months afterward; Silvy had taken it pretty hard. _She and her brother must have been close_. Typing in a command, I spliced the screen in two. On one side was the info about Silvy, on the other was the location of her and Carlos, to my slight relief they hadn't budged from their places. I trained eyes back toward the info and began to scroll down. _It also says that she doesn't have a lot of friends….so dealing with the grief must have been pretty tough for her. _I shut my computer and stared at the treetops swaying in the breeze. _She must feel all alone._ _She wants a friend. Someone to spend time with and hang out and to talk and laugh with. _I blinked once. _And share the pain of losing a sibling. Poor kid, still this is the wrong way to get Carlos to hang out with her. Doesn't she know that having a Power Ranger for a friend is not all fun and games?_ A picture of Justin, lying on the ground, with the full horror of what he had been forced to endure passed in front of my mind's eye. Goosebumps rose on my arms and I looked around me warily before getting to my feet, morphing and hurrying back to the café.

The end of the day finally drew near and Carlos dropped Silvy off at home. _Here's my chance!_ I thought with mounting excitement. As soon as Silvy went inside, I would morph into a puddle, corner her and erase her memory. _This'll be a piece of cake! _The both of them reached the house's front gate and Silvy turned to Carlos with an excited look on her face.

"That was so much fun!" The girl squealed. She spun in a circle, hugging the giant teddy bear that Carlos had won for her. She looked at him.

"There is just one more thing that I want you to do for me, then I'll give you the photo and I'll never ever ask you for anything ever again." My ears pricked up, Carlos looked wary but relieved at her.

"Honestly? What?" He asked. Silvy was silent for a moment, and then she looked up at the moon, then back at Carlos, who had followed her gaze.

"A rock." She said in a serious voice. Carlos straightened up.

"A rock? Heh, sure what kind?"

"A rock from the moon." He looked at her with incredibility on his face. I felt surprised myself; I was even more surprised by what Carlos said to her.

"One rock? Just one? Why not the entire moon?" He turned away from her and turned back with a look of anger on his face

"You're spoiled rotten, you know that! Do you think I have nothing better to do than to go to parks and have fun? Look, I am a Power Ranger, there are people out there that are counting on me and I have to help them. But instead I'm babysitting you!" A look of hurt crossed her face and she looked down at the ground. Carlos continued to glare at her; then he began to back away from her.

"You know what? Never mind. Keep the photo. T—tell everyone that I'm a Power Ranger, I have bigger worries." He turned and walked away, Silvy chased after him calling his name. Despite my silently congratulating Carlos for finally telling Silvy that he wasn't a baby sitter nor could he be black mailed, a stirring of pity went through me as I watched Silvy turn and trudge into the house. _It had to be done._ I thought to myself as I slid forward until I reached the side of the house. Up the wall I went hoping that no passer byers walked by the house and saw me. Sliding underneath her window, I slid myself underneath her bed and waited patiently. She finally pushed open her bedroom door, closed it, dropped her things to the floor, flopped into her bed and began to cry. I struggled not to let my emotions get in the way of my purpose, but I couldn't help but feel angry at Carlos. _He really didn't have to yell at her, he could have just talked to her and told her about the dangers of knowing the identity of a Power Ranger, and tried to make her understand. _I paused for moment, took a deep breath and began to slide my way out from underneath the bed and up her dresser when there was a knock on her door.

"Silvy, honey? Are you okay?" called her mom. _Blast!_ I quickly slid past the woman's feet, just as she opened the door and walked into her daughter's room. I made it outside without anybody seeing me and materilized once I had gotten clear of the house. I turned back. _I'll try again later, maybe while she's sleeping._ I thought before limping away.

Unfortuntely, I didn't get the chance, Goldar had decided to attack Angel Grove along with the Tengu Warriors later that night. I guess we should have been lucky that he didn't create monsters with his staff. _I don't think that my team mates can survive an encounter with any of his monsters. _I leaped up and aimed for Goldar's chest. _Actually, I pretty much doubt that they can survive a battle with Goldar without me._

"Ranger kick!" I shouted while my glowing boots slammed home and sent him flying. I turned toward the Tengu Warriors and lifted up one hand, power began to flow through it, spinning myself around three times, I unleashed. The Tengu saw the blast coming toward them and tried to duck or scramble out of the way, but they were slammed with it. My team mates ducked as the Tengus flew over their heads and landed in a heap several feet away. They turned toward me but Goldar and I were already locked in battle.

"I really _really_ wish that you wouldn't pick on the people of Angel Grove. They've been through enough hell." I snarled through gritted teeth.

"I know." Laughed Goldar.

"Sadly, hell for them; is just beginning." And he leapt backward just as I brought my sword down on him. Hearing something above me, the Tengu descended and engulfed me in feathers, I levitated them and flung them away but they kept coming back and trying to attack me and again with a wave of my hand, I would send them head over heels. A rumbling sound made me turn; a streak of black lighting was shooting toward me at ground level! I leapt straight up into the air dodging it; it shot straight into the air after me.

_Uh oh._ I began to try to hold it back with shields, it passed right through them! I began to zig zag through the air, trying to out run it and for a moment it seemed that I had, for it wasn't behind me anymore more. I stopped and looked around for it. _No way that Goldar could have….._ From out of nowhere it slammed into me! I began to fall toward the ground, but something stopped my fall and held me in the air, I struggled to pull myself together, to focus. _The others! Goldar and the Tengu. _I struggled to fight off the urge to close my eyes and give in to the tiredness that was dragging at me. Goldar walking toward my team mates; who were on the ground. He stopped in front of them.

"So weak, so easily defeat able. They're almost an embarrassment to the name Power Ranger." He shook his head and started to lift his staff and point it at them; after a moment he stopped and took a step back.

"No, they are not worthy of being killed by the power that I have and the power within this staff." He lowered it and turned to the Tengus, who were a few feet from Andros and the others, laughing at them.

"Tengu, would you mind taking care of these…..these….children?" The Tengu cackled as they began to walk toward the fallen group and bent over them. Goldar turned toward me, we stared at each other, he pointed his staff at me, and a second later I was engulfed in electricity. I shouted in pain as Goldar stepped toward me. He frowned.

"This isn't causing enough pain for my satisfaction." He pointed one hand at me and made a movement. The electricity moved so that it seemed to be concentrated around my back and my right ankle! I let a high pitched shriek as the unbearable pain traveled up and down my body over and over again. Goldar had a smirk on his face.

"That's better. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of this sooner." He stood and watched with a delighted look.

"I can't believe that I'd forgotten about your weak points." _Weak points?_ I had never really thought of my back and ankle as weak points, I had always thought of them as injuries that couldn't be healed by my powers. I forced my eyes open and stared at Goldar. He had seen my eyes open and his were locked on mine.

"Struggle all you want half ling, it won't do you much good. Kind of like this war that you're in. You know what the outcome will be, it's hopeless. You and those rookies can't possibly defeat Dark Specter, not when he has Zordon's power at his disposal, in fact you won't be able to save him." Goldar said in a low voice, he had spread his wings and was floating in front of me.

"Even if you do manage to find out where Zordon is being held, even if you do battle with Dark Specter himself to reach him, you'll be too late. He will be dead, a shell of his former self, you'll be in too much shock that you'll just stand there staring that the husk of your great and powerful mentor and father. You'll realize that after everything you've done, after all the battles that you've fought, in the end it had all been for nothing, because the person that you went through so much for, spilled so much blood for, will be dead and there was nothing that you could have done." He floated closer.

"Just like there was nothing that you could have done to save your mother or your adopted sister, Kimberly." The pain that had engulfed my back and ankle had faded but I was in still too much pain to do much of anything as Goldar floated closer.

"Once you realize that it was all for nothing then……I'll come for you." He slid one hand underneath my chin and lifted up my face and his lips met mine.

"Electric Saber!" Goldar was blasted away from me; letting out a yell, he was slammed into the ground and the force field that I was in vanished. My head slumped forward and I began to fall. I was dimly aware of being caught; I looked up in the face of the Masked Rider.

"Amy. Pull yourself together!" I was shaken but I was unable to speak.

"Hang on. I've got to get you to somewhere safe." I was soon aware that we were moving, then I was laid gently on something soft.

"Heh, of all places. This is where Count Dregon first attacked you, we're standing in the exact same spot where you fell and I stood over you, protecting you from his assaults." I cracked open one eye and looked into the Masked Rider's face which began to swim in and out of focus. Dex looked down at me for a few minutes then he turned and addressed someone that I couldn't see.

" Magno, take care of her."

"You got it Dex." Magno watched over me, getting more and more worried when she saw that my powers weren't kicking in and healing my body of my injuries. _Did Goldar do something to her powers?_ Thankfully, she saw my locket glow and the healing power start to spread all over me, as it faded, I sat up with a groan. _Ugh, what happened? Why do I have this disgusting taste in my mouth?_ Looking up I saw Magno, she started toward me.

"Magno? What are you doing here? What happened?" I began to notice that I was alone. I started to rise but a flurry of fireballs rained down on the both of us. I screamed as I threw up a shield but several of the fireballs passed through and struck me. I flew a few feet and landed on the ground with a thump, pain racked my body, but a few moments later my powers kicked in again, and I sat up. Shaking my head I started to stand but something lifted me up, without even thinking I powered up, drew back both of my hands, gathered energy and fired in the general direction of where Goldar was standing. He dodged it. I was able to get on the ground again and face him. He was already close enough so that I could see the smile on his face. I glanced at Magno, she was lying on her side not too far away from me. _Did she get in the way of the attack?_ Before I could go over to see if she was okay, I had to leap backward to dodge Goldar's sword as he swiped at me. Quickly I leapt over him, aiming a kick to his face, but he caught my ankle, my fist shot out and connected. I somersaulted away from him as he took a step back due to the blow; in mid twist I pointed both of my hands at him.

"ENERGY BLAST!" He threw himself to one side but froze as he felt vibrations from deep in the ground, he started to scramble to his feet but the ground was already exploding from underneath him! He screamed as the blast struck home, I watched as he was flung into the air, knowing that he was beat, he turned into flames and vanished. _Glad that's over with._ I demorphed and hurried over to Magno.

"You alright?" I asked as I righted her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. That guy usually comes out of nowhere huh?" I took a step back while rotating my right shoulder.

"You can say that again." I rubbed my hand that I had used to punch Goldar and shook it. _He must have a steel jaw._ I looked around half expecting Dex and the others to show up; it wasn't long until they arrived to where Magno and I were. Dex pulled in a hug.

"I'm so glad that you're okay."

"And I'm glad that you blasted away Goldar when you did." I turned and spat. _Gross out! I can still feel his lips! _I shuddered. I turned again to Dex and the others asking them if they were okay, they each said that they were; Goldar and the Tengu Warriors had not inflicted serious damage to them. That was all due to the Masked Rider and Combat Chopper showing up.

"Thanks." Said Andros. The Masked Rider nodded toward him.

"No sweat, I've actually been itching to teach that guy a few hard lessons on trying to steal future wives." I laughed and pressed myself closer to Dex, glad that he had, once again, saved me from Goldar's clutches. _Wished he could have saved me from Goldar's kiss._ I turned and spat again, stepping away from the Masked Rider, I thanked him once again for coming to our aid.

"Anytime you need me." He said with warmth in his voice. I smiled then turned back to the others.

"If anyone needs me I'll be in the bathroom, washing my mouth out. DECA, can you give me at least two tubes of toothpaste plus five bottles of mouthwash please?" I said into my communicator before teleporting away.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

It was near dawn when we all went back to the ship and turned in, I stayed up for a good hour washing my mouth out of Goldar's taste. As I spat the last of the mouthwash into the sink, I thought about his words:

"Even if you do find out where your father is being held it will be too late, he will be dead and there is nothing that you could have done." I lifted up my head and stared at my reflection, after several long moments I took a step back from the sink, turned and exited the bathroom. I stopped in front of my desk and looked down at the picture of my mother, father and me. Limping over to my bed I sat down, in the back of my mind I wondered how Goldar could have guessed my deepest fear, a fear that I felt for sure was never going to come true, all this time I had been trying to convince myself that it wouldn't happen; that Dad'll be saved, broken out of his prison and start to live life again with me, and we'll be a family again…..but hearing Goldar say that….it brought the horrible and terrible reality that…._maybe I won't be able to save him, I'll be alone; like before. _I closed my eyes briefly, refusing to think about going through the rest of life without my father.

Lying down on my bed; I stared up at the ceiling. I thought about all that had been taken away from me by Lord Zedd and Goldar. _My Earth parents, my innocence, my life a couple of times._

_I guess I should be grateful that Goldar isn't going after anyone else that I care about. Like my friends or the rest of my family. That is if you could call them my family anymore. _I hadn't thought of my step-brothers and sisters in years, but with my mind being constantly messed with, my body toyed with and my mind solely on finding dad, can you blame me? Idly I wondered whether or not they would recognize me if we passed each other on the street. A small voice in the back of my mind asked: _Do you really care?_ _No, I don't._ I answered honestly. They're part of a life that I was no longer connected to. That I was _never_ connected to; truthfully. And that suited me just fine, ever since I'd accepted to be the Yellow Ranger, found out who I really was, went through the trails of what it meant to be a Power Ranger, I had felt myself being separated more and more from my Earth family, so much so that whenever I thought of them, it was like thinking of another person's family, in fact there were times when I'd completely forget about them. _I'm pretty sure they feel the same way._ _They've probably forgotten about me by now, since I never call them or anything._ Levitating myself a couple of inches off the bed, I pulled back my covers, lowing myself back onto the bed I crawled underneath the covers. Turning onto my side so that I faced my desk, I found myself staring at the picture of my friends, adoptive sisters and fiancée. _It's just as well; I don't think I can ever reconnect with them again._

It seemed like mere minutes that I was shaken awake.

"Amy! Amy Wake up!" Someone was screaming in my ear. I struggled awake to see Cassie standing over me; I sat up and faced her while rubbing my eyes of sleep.

"What is it?" I became more fully awake when I saw the look of panic on her face.

"What happened?" For a fleeting moment I thought that Goldar and his army had broken into the ship and were now attacking my team mates.

"Get up! Hurry!" Cassie started for the door but I grabbed her wrist, she turned to face me.

"Cassie, what's happening?" To my slight relief I didn't hear any battle cries, but my relief was short lived.

"It's Silvy! A monster has her!"

"Oh crap!" I shouted angrily as I leaped out of bed, hurried to my closet; flung it open and chose something that I could easily slip into. Spying a dress that Kimberly had given me, I morphed into a puddle; my pj's slipping off of me to fall in a heap on the floor. The dress slid from the hanger and suspended itself in front of Cassie. Concentrating hard I slid into the dress; as soon as I had touched it, the dress became a part of my liquid state.

Speeding back to my bed I slid underneath my pillow to put on my bra, then morphed back into my human form and began to struggle into my shoes. I stood up and at the same time nearly crashed into Cassie.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING AROUND FOR! GET YOUR BUTT TO HER LOCATION!" I roared. She looked bewildered at my anger, and took a step back as I jumped up, grabbed her wrist and morphed both of us; out of my room we sped, down the hallway and toward the chutes. Concentrating I separated myself from her. I had already shot down the chute. But Cassie, having never been in a liquid state before, materialized in front of her chute and took a few moments to get herself together. Before sliding into the chute she was preparing to perform her hand signal or whatever it was before she and the others did before going in, but before she could even start, she was yanked into the chute.

"NOT NOW!"

We landed in the park, Cassie was glaring at me; ignoring her I began to limp as fast as I could toward the sounds of battle, with Cassie running ahead of me. Whipping out my computer, I preformed a quick scan of the monster as I came within sight: the computer flashed and told me everything that I needed to know: The monster was called Data Scanner, he was able to scan anything and anyone with the intention of sending it right back to Astromena. Annoyance went through me; I would have thought that, thanks to the Psycho Rangers mind scanning my team mate's brains, she would have had more than enough data on them to take them down. _Or maybe she sent this monster after me, since I'm the only Ranger that hasn't been scanned, besides Zhane of course. _I thought as I dived forward, Silvy was in the arms of the monster, she was yelling for Carlos, the others were hesitating, letting out a shout caused a minor distraction and I was able to snatch Silvy from the monster's arms, and leapt out of harm's way as Data Scanner tried to blast me, leaving a small crater where Silvy and I were moments ago. I morphed into liquid, ignoring Silly's yell, and sped as far away from the battle as I possibly could. Finally coming to a clearing, Silvy and I materialized; she stumbled back a few paces and flopped on the ground staring at me. I gave her a once over, she seemed unhurt.

"Stay here." I ordered then turning; I morphed again and sped back toward the battle. Arriving there I saw that a bright green beam was shining out of the sky and was on Data Scanner! _Oh no! _The monster soon towered over us, Andros and the others whipped out their Astro Blasters and fired, with no effect! Retaliating with eyebeams that knocked my team mates to the ground, I swerved to one side as the beam nearly hit me.

"You're up Mega Voyager!" I shouted into my communicator as I began to cover my team mates by sending Power Blast after Power Blast toward Data Scanner. In the distance we could see the Mega Voyager transforming into Mega Zord. As it landed, we all leaped in. We made short work of the monster, by firing the Mega V-3 and a Power Blast to distract it, the monster was destroyed. _That was easy; I could even count that as a warm-up…..what the hell? _The little brat was below us, jumping up and down and waving to us.

"I thought I told that kid to stay put." I snapped angrily. Before the others and I could do anything though, Silvy was grabbed by Psycho Red.

"Silvy!" Shouted Carlos. _I knew that kid was going to trouble._ Carlos turned to the rest of us.

"We've got to save her." I was already on my feet and limping toward the exit.

"Less yakking, more action." I said shortly. The others followed and soon we were on the ground and confronting Psycho Red.

"Finally," he sneered as he threw Silvy to one side, she sprawled onto the ground. She scrambled to her feet and hid behind a tree.

"I have all of you where I want you." _He's joking right? All of us against just one of him?_ Whipping out his weapon, he fired at us, the others got hit, but I had already morphed into liquid and was racing at him. I was in front of him when I shot upward, punching him on the chin while still in liquid state. He staggered back a few steps, then aimed his weapon skyward and pointed it at me. I was already propelling myself downward, powering up and unleashed when I was close enough to hit my mark.

"Power Blast!" He let out a yell as he was struck; I materialized and had him pinned to the ground. I found myself looking into the eyes of Silvy; she had stepped out of her hiding place, and was staring at me. Ignoring her I turned back to the Psycho Ranger, but he had vanished! _What the?_ I cried out as I was hit and flew a couple of feet and landed hard on the ground. Looking up I saw the Psycho Ranger walking toward me.

"Why is it that you seem to be more powerful that the other Rangers?" he demanded. I stumbled to my feet and pulled out my sword. I had forgotten that the Psychos didn't know about me; it was a while before I realized that my team mates were beside me and we attacked. Cassie and Carlos went first, but they were beaten back, TJ and Andros were up next. TJ fared no better, but Andros held up slightly better; he managed to keep up with Psycho Red as their swords flashed. Punches were thrown and so were kicks, Andros was pushed back; whipping out his Astro Blaster, he tried to blast Psycho Red but the Psycho Ranger easily dodged the fire and deflected the blasts right back at Andros.

Not really caring if Andros thanked me or not for jumping into the battle and helping him, I sped to his side and blocked the blasts that were coming his way. Sending power into my fist, I slammed it on the ground, which shot toward the Pyscho Ranger! The explosion of power sent him flying. I watched him as he suddenly vanished again, the others had rejoined us and were busy looking around wondering where he had went. _No way could he have given up that easily. _I saw something in the air flicker….right behind the girl!

"GET DOWN!" I screamed, at the same time powering up and releasing.

"Amy what are you doing?" Screamed my team mates. Silvy saw the Power Blast streaking toward her! She screamed as she threw herself onto the ground, the Power Blast missing her by inches! Behind her the Blast hit its mark, and slammed into Psycho Red, he yelled in surprise as he fell onto his back. Silvy had turned and was stared in astonishment. She was soon scooped up by Carlos, who had ran over to her and the both of them rejoined us, she was still staring at me. I glanced at her. Stepping forward I addressed Psycho Red who was struggling to his feet.

"Are you ready to give up?" I snarled. Psycho Red looked at me, I was pretty sure he was considering running away; but then he would be looked on as a coward and probably be destroyed. _Then we would have one less Psycho to deal with. _I chuckled at my own joke.

Out of fury, he charged at us.

"Carlos, get that kid out of here!" I barked. Carlos scooped up Silvy again and took off, but he didn't get far, Psycho Black appeared out of nowhere and blasted him! Silvy screamed as she and Carlos went rolling. I threw out my arm toward them and erected a shield as Psycho Black blasted at them again and again, the blasts bounced off the shield; all of us could see Silvy cringing and cowering. Carlos had sat up, I waved a hand and Psycho Black went flying. Carlos, once again, grabbed Silvy and began to run, I turned my attention back to Psycho Red; my team mates had attacked him while my attention had been diverted. All of them were down; their suits were smoking; and in some places damaged. Andros was still up and fighting, he tried to slash at Psycho Red and missed as the Psycho Ranger jerked his head away from the sword's direction, savagely he punched Andros hard in the stomach then performing a round house kick, knocked Andros to the ground, I morphed and shot forward just as the Psycho Ranger, placing his foot on Andros's arm, turned toward me.

"Stop or he dies." I continued toward them, Psycho Red lifted up his sword, ready to deal the death blow, out my liquid state, my sword; resuming its form shot out and was hurled toward the Psycho Ranger, he dodged it. Levitating myself, so that I was level with the Ranger, I was about to blast him, but before I could even touch him, he was blasted aside by….Psycho Black! I came to a full stop, materialized and stared at him. He looked at his team mate and snarled.

"Oh no, don't think that you'll be getting all the glory. I'll be the one to destroy the Power Rangers." Psycho Red picked himself off the ground and faced Psycho Black and growled.

"We'll see about that." And the both of them actually began to fight each other. I stared in amazement, as the two Psycho Rangers exchanged blows. _Not even Zedd or Dregon ever fought each other to see who would be the one to kill me._

"I must have been crazy to put up with you!" Psycho Black shouted, as he slashed at Psycho Red's chest. Psycho Red stumbled back then charged at his adversary. Soon the others had joined me, and like me, were astonished.

"Now there's something you don't see every day." Cassie murmured, I glanced toward her amused for a second, and then I realized that Carlos wasn't with us.

"Where…? I started but a shout made me turn back to the two battling Psychos, Psycho Black had his arm around Psycho Red's throat, He also had one of Red's arms pinned back, Red was struggling and without another word, both of them vanished. _What was that all about?_ I turned and began to scan the park looking for Carlos. The others, having caught on that one of our own was missing began to spread out and call his name.

"Power Rangers, over here!" Silvy shouted. She was at the top of a small hill waving her arms trying to get our attention, hurrying over to her, we were surprised to see tear stains on her cheeks. I lifted up my head and saw Carlos, stretched out; a part of his suit was smoking.

"Carlos!" I called and I began to limp toward him. Kneeling, I spread my hands over his wound, the others had come up from behind me and were watching as my hands glowed, Carlos was soon healed and sat up.

"Carlos!" squealed Silvy happily as she ran forward, threw her arms around him and hugged him, he hugged her back.

"Silvy, oh, I'm glad that you're alright." After a moment he looked around then up at the rest of us.

"Where are the Psycho Rangers?"

"Gone." I said simply not really looking at him; my gaze was fixed on Silvy. Letting out a grunt, Carlos rose to his feet with a little bit of help from TJ.

"Gone? You mean you beat them?" I shook my head, averting my gaze onto Carlos.

"No, they turned on each other." Carlos froze.

"T—they did?" Andros nodded and told him about the fight. Carlos seemed stunned.

"Wow, Psycho Ranger fighting Psycho Ranger…." He breathed.

"We could use this to our advantage." I said matter of factly. The others turned toward me.

"How?" asked a bewildered Cassie.

"We could use whatever ill feelings that they have for each other against them, that way they'll end up destroying each other." There was a slight pause.

"But how do you know that the other Psychos are going to turn against each other?" asked TJ. I looked at him.

"I don't but…." I took a breath.

"If any of them show anymore animosity toward each other then we have to fuel it, it'll be much easier to take them down." The others slowly nodded. Silvy was busy explaining how the Black Psycho Ranger had blasted Carlos while trying to protect her. _Some of the blasts the Psychos were throwing at each other must have bounced off and struck Carlos. _I realized. _That would explained why his suit was so damaged._

I glanced down at Silvy, she was at Carlos's side and was running her fingers down his side, amazed and relieved that he no longer hurt.

"Wow, I don't even see a scratch or a scar or anything." She said in an awed voice. She turned toward me.

"Thank you so much for healing him." She smiled up at me.

"No problem." I said in a low voice. My right hand was glowing; I stretched it out to touch her head.

"It's okay, I'm not hurt." She said.

"I know you're not. Hold still Silvy, this won't hurt a bit." I said again in that low voice.

"Hold it!" Carlos called; he reached out a hand, wrapped it around my wrist and shoved it away. I looked up at him, surprised for a moment. The others were all looking at me.

"Amy, what are you doing? Silvy's not hurt, in fact I'm rather surprised that she isn't, with what Psycho Black and Psycho Red's attacks flying around everywhere." Carlos and the others began to look Silvy up and down. I thought of lying to them, telling them that she was indeed hurt but then that would lead to questions when Silvy no longer recognized Carlos….so(as much as it pained me) I decided on the truth.

"I wasn't going to heal her. I was going to erase her memory." All heads turned toward me, Silvy's eyes widen. Cassie made a small gasp; TJ took a step toward me.

"Y—you were going to erase….?"

"It's for her own safety as well as ours." I said looking up at all of them.

"There is a very good chance that this could happen again, and _we_ might not be around to save her." I thought that this would be a valid point and the others would agree, if the Psycho Rangers and a monster could attack Silvy; then what about Darkonda or Ecliptor. _Lord, I pray to you that she does not meet Goldar._ Silvy spoke up.

"That won't happen; you guys will protect me whenever those monsters show up." My entire body stiffen. That was the same assumption that I had made concerning my Earth parents, I had thought that since Dad was watching over them, that nothing bad could have happened to them, that my friends would keep them safe. I shook my head when Carlos spoke up.

"I'll take care of her, I'll keep an eye on her, I'll make sure that she's safe." TJ spoke up as well but it was to ask a question.

"How did the Psycho Rangers and Astronema find out about Silvy anyway?" She looked up at him.

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear." She turned toward Carlos.

"I didn't tell anyone that you were a Power Ranger, I still have the picture of you morphing right here." She patted the front pocket of her cover alls; she pulled out the picture, as if afraid that it had been stolen during the battle, the look of relief on her face did little to satisfy me. I spoke directly to her.

"Our enemies have ways of finding out information about us, they could have overheard you."

"But I didn't tell anyone!" she protested. I continued.

"Or they could have seen you or…"

"Or…they could have been eves dropping on one of our conversations." Snarled Cassie. I turned toward her and spoke heatly.

"Cassie, I haven't even spoken to my parents in a long time, ever since we started this mission." Silvy stared at me.

"Your parents know that you're a Power Ranger?" I turned toward her and snapped.

"My parents are dead! They were killed when I was fifteen years old." She flinched. I turned back to Cassie.

"I just haven't had the time Cassie as you very well know; I've been busy fighting off those Psycho Rangers, Goldar and his peacock army and the various monsters that Astronema has been siccing on us. There can be no way that the attacks on Silvy are my fault."

"Then how did the Psycho Rangers and that monster know about Silvy?" Inquired Carlos. I was silent for a moment.

"Maybe," I said slowly. "They don't really know about her." Beneath his mask, Carlos raised an eyebrow.

"Come again?"

"Maybe they saw Silvy and just thought that she was an innocent bystander." Carlos's body relaxed and a sigh of relief went though the others, until I said.

"But her memory still has to be erased." I started toward Silvy, but the others stood in front of me, blocking me from her.

"No, Amy." It struck me as a little strange that we should be calling each other by our real names in front of a girl who found out the secret identity of a Power Ranger.

"She promised that she won't tell; she'll keep her word." Behind Cassie, Silvy nodded.

"As long as nobody else finds out she'll be safe." I let out a laugh

"Are you guys kidding me? Yes, she'll keep her promise and not breathe a word to anyone. The Psycho Rangers will probably forget all about her, seeing as how they got their butts handed to them big time which will make them think twice about messing with Silvy again." I took a deep breath.

"But what about Goldar huh? Sooner or later he going to get wind of her and…do I really need to remind you of what happened to Justin?" Silvy looked scared, the way I spoke about the boy, something really bad must have happened to him. She reached for Carlos's hand; he turned and glanced down at her.

"Amy, stop it. You're scaring her!" I turned toward him.

"All the more reason to erase her memory Carlos, if her memory is erased she'll be much safer, Goldar, I'm sure will not go after her, in fact" I scanned the surrounding area but didn't see or sense anything.

"It's lucky that he hasn't gotten wind of her already, look we have to do this fast or it might be too late." I took another step toward Silvy; Cassie once again blocked my path. It took all of my self restraint not to shove her out of my way.

"Wait, just wait a second Amy. When you say that you're going to erase her memory, what…exactly are you going to erase?"

"I'm going to erase the memory of Carlos being a Power Ranger, and this battle."

"Including the time that we spent, our friendship." Snapped Carlos angrily. _Friendship?_ Silvy was staring at me; she had hidden herself behind TJ

"It has to be done Carlos; it's the only way to keep her safe. Besides, you'll be able to renew your friendship, it'll be just like before, and only she won't have that picture to hold over you." The photograph began to slide out of Silvy's pocket and start to float toward me, she cried out and grabbed it and held on to it tightly as if it were a lifeline.

"Silvy don't be silly sweetie, you and Carlos will still become friends; you'll still be able to have fun times and hang out." I said gently.

"It won't be the same." She wailed. Still she clutched at the photo which was trying to wriggle out of her grasp. Carlos stepped toward me, thrusting his face near mine.

"I don't want her memory erased. I don't want our friendship erased. I'll keep her safe, we'll keep an eye on her, and we'll make sure that nothing bad will happen to her." Anger flared up within me. I opened my mouth to tell him off, to remind him that, even the people that we cared about weren't safe from our enemies. I didn't see any other choice; I would have to use force. _If they won't listen….._I started to power up, to fling them all away, hold Silvy down…but I couldn't. I couldn't just do that to someone; erase their memory against _their_ will. _If I do that then I'll be as bad as Zedd, worse. And the others, I can't be separated from them; Goldar and Astronema and the Pyscho Rangers…..they'll be easy targets. They'll be killed with no trouble at all. _I shook my head and took several steps back. _I don't want any more blood on my hands._ I turned away from all of them.

"Do what you like." I snapped coldly and I limped away. _If she dies, it'll be on their heads._


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

"THEY DID WHAT?" The shouts of my fiancée and his two vehicles echoed through out the cave.

"They wouldn't let me erase her memory." I stated with frustration and anger in my voice.

"But don't they know the kind of danger that the little girl is in, especially with Goldar out there, he'll find out about her, god only knows what he'll do when….." Chopper's voice trailed off, still sounding shocked.

"I reminded them of Goldar, of what had happened to Justin but they are convinced that they'll protect her, they swear on it." I said the last four words in a bitter tone.

"They're joking right?" asked Magno, there was skepticism in her voice.

"They can barley stand up to the Psycho Rangers, how are they going to protect a little girl from Goldar? It'll be a slaughter." I turned to Magno. I was doubly glad that all of them agreed with me on this. I had gone to Dex for advice and everything had spilled out. I knew that I could count on him, on all of them to see that the situation with Silvy was foolish as well as dangerous. I was also doubly glad that I had chosen to tell them of the situation while inside the cave where Magno and Combat Chopper were kept; it was one of the places where I had always felt safest, and where I felt secure, where no enemy of mine could possibly overhear anything that I had to say and turn it against me. My mind suddenly began to be filled of the Power Chamber, the Command Center and the cemetery.

The Command Center; which I had thought had been an impenetrable place, where not even Lord Zedd's wrath could ever reach me had been broken into and destroyed by Goldar and Rito. The Power Chamber, another place that I had believed would never fall under attack by our enemies, had been penetrated by none other that Divatox herself; but I knew who was really behind it. Goldar. _With dad around I had thought for sure that neither of those two places would fall, when Demetria came; I just knew that the Power Chamber's defenses could never hold up_. If I was honest with myself, I had fully expected for the Power Chamber to have been breached and overrun with Tengu Warriors, instead of Piranhatrons. As for the cemetery; like some stupid kid, I had held onto the belief that there would be no way that Goldar nor Lord Zedd would dare attack me in a place where the dead lay. Numerous times I had been wrong. _This cave is my last refuge. I hope that it stays that way. I hope to god…._ Oh, who was I kidding? This cave, it can be broken into, it can be overrun with enemies, like the Command Center, like the Power Chamber, like Eltar, like my house….._am I to lose every place where I had once felt safe and happy? Only to have them destroyed right in front of me. Was I ever really safe to begin with? _ I looked around the cave for a minute, hating the image that surfaced inside my mind: of Dregon's forces breaking into and having the run of this place. _Other than this cave being Chopper and Magno's home, it's also the one place where Dex can be himself. _I realized.

"Believe me Magno; I tried my hardest to convince them….but they won't budge. They keep insisting that nothing bad would happen to her that they would keep her safe." I paused for a few minutes. Then said in a quiet voice.

"I was about to use force, on all of them. On Silvy; on my teammates. I was going to use my powers against them; and at first I thought that I would have been okay with that, because it was the right thing to do. To keep Silvy safe. To keep her out of Goldar's hands. But then, I realized that I couldn't do that because….because….it would be completely against her will."

_If I did go through with it, then I'm no better than Zedd and Rita, the both of them have put my friends underneath spells against their will. I couldn't do that to a little girl, I don't think I have it in me. _I nearly laughed out loud. _In the old days, I was sure that I didn't have it in me to take a life. But back then it was different, I had to save my family, I had to protect them. The situation with Silvy is no different than that time….except I'm not underneath a spell, and I'm not in monster form, and everyone will know that I'm the one that erased a little girl's memory._ I glanced up and was surprised to see that Dex had an angry look on his face.

"TJ and the others should know better then to put themselves through this, to put _you _through this. You guys have got enough on your plate as it is; why are they doing this anyway?" I was silent for a moment, then,

"Justin."

"What?"

"Justin. TJ, Carlos and Cassie are trying to redeem themselves for what happened to Justin."

"But how can they possibly….?" Started Magno. I turned to her.

"None of us were watching him when Goldar and the Tengu Warriors attacked right? They are going to try to prevent the same thing from happening to Silvy. I think to them Silvy is going to suffer the same thing as Justin suffered because….well….look at how she viewed Carlos: A Power Ranger that will do whatever she wants because of that damn picture and all the fun that she's had at his expense. Goldar's going to target her just for that." Dex stared at me in horror.

"He's going to….. But she's only a little kid!" I smiled grimly.

"Believe me, if Goldar could punish me with whips and electricity, and showing Justin all that I've been through, then he's liable to do anything to this little girl." Dex seemed beyond shocked that Goldar could be this cruel to children. I glared at him.

"This shouldn't shock you at all Dex; I'm sure that Dregon's done some pretty terrible things." I snapped harshly. Dex looked at me, still with that shocked expression on his face.

"Yes, but to torture a young boy. Not even Dregon would…"

"Do you really believe that Dex? Do you really believe that Dregon will _not_ torture a young boy, both as punishment and for fun?" Dex glared at me angrily, I glared back. Magno and Chopper both shifted their wheels uneasily in the silence that stretched between us.

"If they want to prevent that from ever happening, why not allow you to erase the kid's memory?" Chopper spoke up at last.

"I'm not sure, I think to them it would….somehow be…wrong." I glanced at him.

"How can it be wrong? You'll be saving her life and preventing her from getting the same treatment that Justin received at the hands of Goldar and the Tengu Warriors." Dex spoke angrily. I shook my head helplessly.

"Why do they only care about her memory being erased; of all that she knows about us? They should care more about her well being! A—a—and what about her mom huh? How do you think she'll feel if she loses her daughter so soon after losing her son? Why don't they think beyond the fact that Carlos is about to lose "a friend" She was blackmailing Carlos! So she doesn't remember the "good times" that they used to have, big deal! They will meet each other again, they will become friends again." Dex took a deep breath.

"All of you have different viewpoints on how this situation should be handled. The rookies think that the best way to make sure that Silvy stays safe is by keeping a sharp eye on her, and racing to her aid whenever she is attacked; while you, on the other hand, know for a fact, that the only way she will be truly safe, is by erasing her memory of what she knows about the Power Rangers. Only then will she be off their radar and she can continue living her life as a little kid who has no knowledge of this war." I nodded although I wondered what my team mates were thinking when they prevented me from erasing Silvy's memory and _more importantly why?_

"You're right. We do have different viewpoints on how a certain situation should be taken care of. They….in their minds…think they know how to keep Silvy out of harms way. I, on the other hand, know exactly what needs to be done. And I would do it first off…but I need the rookies and Andros…..to help me look for dad, and they need help fighting off the Psycho Rangers." Dex looked at me in sympathy.

"If you get kicked off the team for this, then the team will be one short, and not even Zhane with his powers….."

"Goldar will take full advantage of the situation of course. He'll make sure that I'm not there to bail the rookies out if they get into real trouble."

"And I'll be too busy fight Count Dregon." Dex said. Both of us were silent.

Suddenly Dex looked up at me, as though he had just thought of something.

"Well….there is a way….that you can erase her memory and at the same time show Andros and the others that it _had _to be done, because of the danger that Silvy will face; that way they won't be able to kick you of the team because then they will be forced to see that you were right all along." I looked up at him and was surprised to see that he looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Really? How?" Dex shifted from one foot to the other, it looked as if he were having second thoughts.

"Boss?" asked Chopper and Magno.

"Dex? What is it? It can't bad, because well be saving a life plus saving a mother from feeling anymore pain and grief." Dex was still silent finally he spoke, but as he did so, it seemed as if every word was costing him great effort.

"We…..we…allow Silvy to be captured…." I stared at him in shock.

"WHAT! Dex….that's crazy! We're trying to protect her not….not throw her to the lions!"

"Amy just listen to me! I…I know that it sounds hard but…."

"You're damn right! In fact it sounds down right insane!" I glared at him. Dex continued to explain to me the only possible way the rookies and Andros will see that Silvy has to have her memory erased.

"Look, once they see how much danger that she's in, they'll have to give their consent and let you erase her memory."

"So, you want Silvy to suffer just so the others won't say that erasing her memory goes against everything that _they_ think is right. Dex, there is no way that I'm going to put that little girl through all that, there has to be another way!" I said the last five words in a pleading sort of voice. A moment passed then:

"It may have to be the only way Amy, you said yourself, and you can not be kicked of the team, not with the Psycho Rangers out there; and what about Goldar? He'll kill them; he'll let you know _how _he killed them; just to torture you with the fact that you were unable to save them. And he will convince you that it's your fault for not being there, he will also torture you with the fact that you could have prevented their deaths." Dex had a desperate look in his eyes.

"Do you want that Amy? Do you want Goldar to put more guilt on your shoulders? Do you want to give him more leverage, so he can tear you down even more?" Dex paused for a minute for I had bowed my head, I didn't want any more blood on my hands, I had spilled too much of it already. _Will I ever be able to wash it off?_ _Will I ever be forgiven for my crimes even though no one knows that I was the one that committed all of those murders?_ I felt Dex's hands on my shoulders; I raised my head and looked into his eyes.

"Amy, I know that Goldar has caused you much pain, about as much pain as Count Dregon caused for me, we know how to handle it. We've seen our family members and people that we care about struck down by those…those monsters. But Carlos, Cassie and TJ; haven't, they don't know what real loss is, because they have never really experienced it. You have to make sure that they do not get a taste of it because, quite frankly, I'm not sure that they can handle it." I remembered how the others had reacted when Justin had been brought in after his encounter with Goldar, their reactions when they found out that I used to serve Lord Zedd.

I didn't want to put that little girl through hell, but I also didn't want to be kicked off the team for doing something that I thought was right; _Goldar and the Tengu Warriors, the Psycho Rangers. If I'm kicked off the team then Andros and the others are as good as dead._ I thought of Silvy's mother, I could picture her crying over the loss of her son, _how will she take when her daughter…?_ I forced myself not to go beyond that thought.

"There has to be another way, I don't want to put Silvy through any of the things that I went through." I repeated miserably.

"Well, if you could think of any other way Ames….." his voice trailed off. All of us knew that there was seemed to be no other way around this but…..In the back of my mind, a germ of an idea began to form itself. I began to pace back and forth across the floor of the cave, letting my mind become a blank, forcing myself not to think about the predicament that plagued me right now. Slowly the germ grew, and I finally found a solution!

"What is it Amy?"

"Have you thought of something?" asked the other two, Dex took a step forward, watching me as I continued to pace back and forth. _I have to think this out carefully, otherwise I could still be kicked off the team and the rookies could still be killed._ I glanced at all of them.

"Yeah, I've just thought of something. And it might work." I stopped and turned to face all of them.

"Okay, "I paused for a moment, marshalling my thoughts.

"I know that we won't be able to protect Silvy from each and every attack that comes her way." I paused again wondering if what I was going to say next was the right thing.

"So, far she's been attacked once by the Psycho Rangers and Data Scanner. Now….that could only be a one time thing….or it could not be." I continued.

"I can protect Silvy with my powers no problem and if it comes to anything worse then we could teleport her away from the battle field."

"Or you could call on me or Magno and we could take her to someplace safe." Chopper piped in. I hesitated. I wasn't at all sure that I wanted Silvy to know about the Masked Rider…._but I think it'll be alright, she'll never find out who he really is._

"Thank you Chopper. Now if Goldar shows up, it's going to be harder getting her to safety."

"He has the Tengu at his command." Dex said grimly. I nodded.

"If he shows up and starts to mess with her then we're going to have to relay on split second timing to get her out of harm's way. It'll be more dangerous. He has his staff and all of us know what he can do with it." I flinched as I remembered what he had done to Justin upon their first meeting, and what he had also done to me. _I won't let that happen. I'll try to prevent it. _A small voice in the back of my mind said. I knew that with Goldar; any and all promises that you made to protect the people that you loved and cared about; were broken by the strength of his attacks and his cunning to go after his victim, even when you put the person in the most safest place that you could think of; Goldar would still find a weak point, and go through with any of the horrible things that he would do to the person. I didn't like to admit it, but there was a good chance that my plan wouldn't work and Silvy would still get hurt. Fear and determination battled within me. _Let's face it: I can't make any promises that Silvy will stay safe, she knows who we are, she knows our secret identities and because of that she will always be a target._

"Amy?" Dex's voice broke through my gloomy thoughts.

"There's more Dex, I just hope that the others will understand when….."

"They have to understand." Growled Dex interrupting me.

"It's seriously foolish and stupid that they flat out refused to let you erase her memory."

"When I erase Silvy's memory." I finished." Dex blinked.

"Come again?" asked Chopper and Magno. I took a deep breath and explained the rest of my plan. I was going to go along with Dex's idea, no matter how much it disturbed me, but at the same time, I was counting on Goldar to create a severely dangerous situation where I had to rescue Silvy myself.

"If I can rescue her, and heal her of any injuries that Goldar may have inflicted upon her, at the same time I could erase her memory. I could say that I had "accidentally" done it while healing her of her injuries."

Dex had a mingled expression of surprise and amazement on his face.

"It's underhanded, but it should work. And besides; the rookies don't really know that I have full control over my powers." I gave a shrug of my shoulders but a small grin was on my face.

"Will it work?" asked Dex.

"It has to work. I just hope that they don't suspect anything."

"You would lie to…." Started Dex.

"If it's to keep a little girl safe and prevent a mother from enduring the pain of losing anymore of her children; then yes. I will lie to my team mates." _Won't be the first time._

"We'll be there to back you up if anything goes wrong." said Magno.

"Thanks Magno. I really appreciate it." I smiled at all of them; feeling relieved we had came up with a solution, albeit a highly dangerous and an unorthodox solution, but it should work.

"Now that we've got that problem all figured out, what was up with the Black and Red Psycho Rangers duking it out?" asked Chopper. I shrugged my shoulders.

"From what I heard and saw; apparently there is some competition over who destroys the Power Rangers first." Chopper revved his engine, making it sound like a snort.

"Heh, good luck. With you on the team Amy, the Psychos will definitely have their work cut out for them." I smiled at Chopper and dipped my head toward him.

"Thank you Chopper. In fact that's what I'm counting on." Dex looked at me confused for a moment. I explained.

"If we can turn them against each other, then they would be so busy fighting each other and causing severe damage to their armor."

"If that happens, then their armor will develop cracks, making the Psychos easier to beat and it'll give you and the others a chance to destroy them!" exclaimed Magno. I nodded; I was excited about the plan and hoped with all of my being that it would work.

"But it'll take time before all of the Psycho Rangers are weaken enough for their armor to be penetrated." I glared at Dex, thinking that he was trying to put a damper on things.

"Are you certain that Andros and the others will be up for that kind of battle?" I was silent for a moment, irritated that he was looking at the reality of the entire thing when I wanted to believe in more than anything that everything would work out.

"They have to be." I said grimly. _Even if the others are too exhausted to continue fighting, which I don't think will happen, then I'll continue fighting; I'll take on all five of the Psycho Rangers if I have to, just so we can continue searching for my father._

"If you need any help, you know who to call." I gave a start as Dex spoke up, turning to him I smiled.

"Thank you Dex." Magno and Chopper revved in agreement.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

When I got back to the Astro Mega Ship, my first thought was to have A-6 keep an eye on Silvy and her mother. But then, he will probably snap at me and give me attitude about yelling at the rookies and how I handled the whole "Silvy situation." _Man,_ _he acts more like a teenager than a…..well, I wouldn't exactly call him a friend._ I stopped beside the bridge's door and stood there for a moment. Then I continued past, I didn't want to meet up with anyone, they would obviously ask me questions, ask me why I do not see things their way and try to convince me that they can keep Silvy safe from any further attacks. _That's fine and dandy, but what about Goldar? The guy can capture the president of the United States in a room full of Secret Service and call that child's play. If Goldar can capture me while my friends are nearby fighting off Tengu Warriors and capture a little boy from right underneath Dimitria's nose then; you can bet anything that he will capture Silvy with no problem whatsoever._

_Oh, I can't even imagine the things that he could possibly do to her. _ Either Goldar would dump her in an isolated location dead, or he would send her back alive but with her mind damaged; and that would be much worse. I thought of the aftermath, if such a thing should come to pass. _There would be plenty of blame going around, lots of yelling, screaming; possibly some crying. _I arrived at my room and sat down on my bed and thought of my team mates. I was sure that TJ, Carlos and Cassie would think themselves unworthy of being Power Rangers and probably turn over their morphers. _They will see Silvy as another Justin, a friend that they failed to protect. _I thought about all the times where I had thought that I was unworthy of being the Yellow Ranger; when I had failed to protect my mom and step-dad, my adoptive sisters Kimberly and Kat, Tommy and Ninjor. _All of those times I thought of quitting; but then I remembered what would be waiting for me out there. Capture, torture and possibly death by my former master. Then I would think of mom and an inkling of what she was really doing that day would surface within my mind. By making me go to school, she had actually saved my life. _ I lay down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. _Did she know that she was going to die that day? _That was a question that I had asked myself a thousand times over and I realized that; not once did I say it out loud to my mother. Not once did I ask her that question whenever I would visit her grave and not once when I was reunited with her in the after life. _Was I afraid of the answer that she would have given me if I had finally asked? _

My door slid open then and Cassie stepped in, I glanced at her and continued to look up at the ceiling. She stopped right at the foot of my bed and looked at me. After a moment I finally turned my eyes toward her and wasn't at all surprised to find that she was glaring at me.

"What is with you?" she snapped.

"Erasing the mind of a little girl, isn't that a little extreme, even for a Power Ranger?"

"Cassie, we've already discussed this, it is the only way to keep that girl out of the hands of Goldar and his Tengu Warriors." I said wearily.

"There are other ways to protect Silvy without resorting to brainwashing. We could keep an eye on her, we'll tell DECA and Alpha to alert us if any of Astronema's or Goldar's henchmen attack her, we'll be there. We'll keep her safe!" I slowly moved my head so that I was facing her. _Does she really believe that they can keep Silvy safe? _I thought of how Goldar easily went about capturing Justin from right underneath their noses. Immediately I began to feel guilty. _It wasn't their fault they weren't able to stop Goldar, they were completely unaware that Justin was ever targeted. But now they have the chance to redeem themselves; to prevent that same incident from happening to another person….so why are they not taking it?_ _I took a chance to redeem myself of all of the horrible things that I was forced to do, when I accepted the Yellow Power Coin._ Images of what I had lost filtered through my mind; I glance to my left so that my eyes met nothing but wall. _Sacrifices. They are common in war. _I knew that if I argued any further it would just cause an even bigger rift, and that is something we don't need right now. I took a deep breath, I spoke truthfully.

"What if Astronema, the Pyscho Rangers manage to attack in several places at once? All of us will have to split in several teams and head off toward each attack. What if Goldar decides to attack Silvy? None of us will be there to protect her or save her when…" But Cassie interrupted me.

"You can always call on the Masked Rider."

"He might be busy fighting his own battles." I chanced a glance at her; she was looking furious and worried at the same time. _She clearly had not thought of that possibility._

"We'll tell Alpha or DECA to teleport her here to the ship."

"Cassie, if we teleport her here, then that'll give our enemies more of a reason to capture her and subject her to horrible things to get her to talk!"

"Why do you have to see the downside to everything? Why can't you see that we are capable of protecting this one little girl? We have been protecting Earth, Angel Grove and its people for a long time now; I think that we can protect Silvy just fine with or without you!" Suddenly she noticed that I was looking at her with a mixture of rage and anger, and stopped.

I was remembering how my friends, the Power Ranger, equipped with weapons, Zords an alarm system that told them of an attack; failed to save my mom and step-dad, they failed from getting them to safety, _ How could they have not saved them? _I was trembling slightly and blinking furiously.

"You okay?" Cassie's voice of concern broke into my thoughts. I glanced up at her and realized that I had sat up and was sitting on the edge of my bed, my hands had clenched into tight fists, which I loosened.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I took a deep breath to calm myself, _even all this time, it still hurts._

"Cassie, I'm not trying to see the downside of everything and I do know that you and the others are more than capable of protecting Earth and Angel Grove and its people. It's just that…..it's just that…." I paused, wondering I was going to be able to put this in a way that won't cause Cassie to fly off the handle.

"It's just what?" Cassie asked, there was an edge in her voice.

"It's just that….we….may be superheroes…..but…..we may not be able to save everyone that our enemies have their eyes on. I know that you don't want to hear this but…I think it's best that you hear it from me before finding out for yourself. The truth is, if the scenario that I describe does come to pass….and all of us have to go off in several different directions to stop our enemies, we may not be around to help Silvy." I wasn't at all surprised to see a look of anger on her face as she took a step toward me. Her hands were balled into fists.

"Don't say…..that…we will protect her, I swear it! We all do! Goldar or anybody else will never lay as hand on her! Why are you saying such things? We are the Power Rangers for god's sake's!" At this last statement, my anger boiled over and I leapt to my feet and shouted at her.

"Because the Power Rangers weren't able to save my Earth parents, because the Power Rangers weren't able to save my adoptive sister from being captured _twice_ by our enemies, because they weren't able to save me when I was captured myself, tortured and killed!" Cassie's eyes had widened at everything that I had told her.

"You were-but how can you-"I ignored her and plowed on.

"The Power Rangers have failed to save two of the most important people in my life from the forces of evil, who happen to be civilians just like Silvy, I'm worried and scared that she'll end up like them." I stopped for a minute breathing hard, then I said in a semi calm voice.

"Cassie, I'm only telling the truth here. Please listen to reason, unless Silvy's memory is erased of all that she knows about us, and then she'll be a target. Do you want her to be constantly on the baddies radar? Because she will be, unless we can talk to the others and try to get them to see things as how they really are, I'm sure that they're be all for it. I'm surprised that Andros is not saying anything in the matter." I thought about it.

The only sure way to find out what he thought of the whole matter; was to talk to Andros alone, and try to convince him that I'm right. But I found that Cassie was blocking the doorway with her body.

"Cassie…." I started with a notable edge in my voice. She glared at me.

"Leave Andros alone, he'll agree with the rest of us that Silvy's memory does not have to be erased." I glared at her, getting thoroughly irritated but a bit of surprised had gone through me. _How did she know that I was thinking of talking to Andros?_

"You make it sound like I'm going to erase her _entire_ memory_, _when I'm only going to erase the parts where she knows about us, the Psycho Rangers and this entire war. That's all."

"What if you accidentally erase her entire memory? " I shook my head.

"That won't happen."

"How do you know?" she snapped in a disbelieving tone.

"Because," I hissed through gritted teeth, "I have faith in my abilities and how to use them. It's for the best."

"The best?" She said incredulously.

"To save a little girl's life, to prevent her from being captured and subjected to horrible things; then yes, it is for the best that her memory of what she knows is wiped." She stared at me, horrorstruck.

"Cassie, I really don't get what the big deal is, if it were any other person, you and the others would have no objection whatsoever, but with this little…..pipsqueak….you claim that by erasing her memory, which will save her life, is a bad thing!"

"Because it is a bad thing! It's a horrible thing! She's a friend, and we do not erase our friends' memories. And I can't believe that you would do such a thing!" I stared her; I let out a laugh.

"You serious? Silvy isn't a friend; in fact she is a brat who took advantage of Carlos."

"She only wanted a friend!"

"Her mom should have introduced her to some kids her own age, or she could have gone to the park, find some kids, played with them and made friends with them, instead of forcing Carlos to spend time with her."

"He was not forced!" I stared at her, and then looked up at the ceiling for a moment, asking for patience, I lowered my head and faced her again.

"What do you call what Carlos went through? A play date?"

"Haven't you ever wanted a friend when you were her age?"

"Yes, I did. But I didn't force them to spend time with me nor did I threaten to tell everybody about their secret identities."  
"Silvy's a kid, what did you expect?"

"I expected her to know better. Any other kid in Angel Grove knows that it's dangerous to know us, the Power Rangers, they could get caught in the cross fire. That's why Silvy's memory should be erased before she gets hurt or worse. The last thing we need is a death of that kid, when we have bigger problems to worry about."

"Are you saying that she'll become a burden to us?" demanded Cassie.

"She already is!" I shot back.

"You saw the damage that Carlos went through trying to protect her, if she hadn't stupidly run over to where we were, Carlos wouldn't have suffered that kind of attack that those Psychos laid on him."

"She was an innocent, what else was he supposed to do? Just leave her, and feed her personally to the lions?"

"You guys are already doing that without my help! If she winds up damaged or hurt by any of our enemies…."

"THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN!"

"Then let me erase her memory!" I begged.

"Like hell we are!"

"What's so special about this kid anyway? Why are you willing to sign her death certificate?"

"She's a friend of the Power Rangers she…"

"CASSIE! WAKE UP FOR GOD'S SAKE! She found out Carlos was a Power Ranger, she used him, and she didn't even give him back the freaking picture after she promised him that she would."

"How do you know that?" Cassie asked after a pause.

"I followed the both of them…I was waiting for my chance to….."

"You were going to erase her memory while Carlos was mere feet from her?" Cassie's eyes widen in shock.

"I didn't have the chance, she had gone up to her bedroom, and then her mom came in." Cassie's eyes narrowed to slits.

"Why didn't you _try agian _the next day?"she asked sarcastically. I glared at her.

"Believe me," I started.

"No I don't." She snapped. I ignored her.

"I would have but the Goldar decided to pay me a visit." I saw that Cassie had stiffened. Acting as if she wasn't at all bothered by it, she asked in a falsely casual voice.

"Oh, where did this attack happen?"

"A couple of blocks from her house." I said just as casually .Cassie's face went a bit pale, and then she gave herself a good shake.

"Well, you defeated him right? He and the Tengu Warriors? He won't try it again, I mean if he tries again, the rest of us will see to it that he is sent packing." She said in a falsely confident voice. I stared at her for a moment then took a deep breath.

"Cassie…."

"I know what you're going to say." She snapped at me, getting angry again.

"No matter how many times you try to convince us that erasing Silvy's memory will keep her safe and out of Goldar's hands, it won't work. What about Carlos huh? What do you think this will do to him when all of Silvy's memories of him are erased? Have you thought of that?

"Have _you_ thought of Silvy's mom? Have any of you thought about what this will do to the woman, once she finds out that some intergalactic monkey killed her surviving daughter? Or how about the fact that the Power Rangers could have prevented it from ever happening in the first place, IF only they had listened to the only Ranger that knew what her enemy was really capable of doing to a little girl who happens to know the identities of the Power Rangers!" My voice rose slightly, I was struggling to lower it but I wanted to get through to her.

"That's not going to happen the others and I…."

"IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU!" I shouted angrily.

"THE BOTH OF YOU STOP IT! RIGHT NOW!" TJ's angry voice made Cassie and I both jump, turning we saw that Carlos, TJ and Andros gathered around my doorway. I didn't hear them approach.

"The both of you follow me to the bridge now!" TJ ordered. Cassie and I moved toward the door at the same time and stopped, I gestured for her to go first, still glaring at me she went through the doorway and I limped after her with Andros and Carlos behind me. As soon as we got to the bridge, TJ told us to sit in a couple of chairs that were against the far wall in front of one the computers.

"I'll stand thank you." I said coldly leaning against a computer panel. TJ fixed me with a glare.

"Sit. Down." I didn't move. He took a step toward me.

"Get on with it." I snapped impatiently. Cassie leaped up from her chair.

"Don't talk to him like that." I turned to face her.

"I can talk to him anyway I damn want to." I snarled. It felt good saying all of these angry words, it helped me vent some of the stuff that I've been feeling as of late onto my team mates. TJ's eyes widened and he opened his mouth but Andros quickly stepped forward, giving TJ a gently push back, he turned to face the both of us. He was glaring at me, I stared at him. He was the first to turn and look toward Cassie; she sat back down but turned her face away from me.

"Right. We have to talk this out otherwise this team won't work."

"Fine. You want to talk. Let's talk." I snapped, taking a step away from the wall.

"I still think that the best way to keep Silvy safe is by…."

"Oh, not this again." Groaned Cassie. I swung around and glared at her.

"And it is that kind of callous attitude that going to get Silvy killed! Do you want her blood on your hands or is losing "her friendship" more important to you than preventing Goldar from taking her life?" Cassie was on her feet.

"Listen you….." Both of us took a step toward each other. Carlos and Andros got in between us.

"You guys stop it! You're friends!" said Carlos as he placed his hands on my shoulders. I took a step back from him and snorted. _Yeah right_.

"Listen, about Silvy….." he started but at that moment DECA's alarm went off. All us looked up.

"What is it DECA?" asked TJ.

"The Pink Psycho Ranger is in Angel Grove." Cassie jumped up and began to follow the others as they ran out of the bridge room. I morphed and sped after them but couldn't help but think.

_This is new; the Psycho Rangers seem to be attacking on their own. First Psycho Black, then Psycho Red and now Psycho Pink. What is going on? Is Astronema losing control of them?_ All of us zipped down the chutes (well, I did, the others preformed that stupid hand sign). Arriving at the bay area in Angel Grove, we were blasted to the ground and when we looked up Psycho Pink and a horde of Quantron fighters were there to greet us. She pointed at us.

"Capture one of the Rangers!" The Quantrons sprang forward; my teammates and I met them head on. In the back of my mind; I couldn't help but be relieved. _They must be too focused on destroying us to even spare a thought on Silvy. Too bad the same can't be said for Goldar and his Tengu Warriors. That reminds me._ Pulling out my mini computer, I began to type in Silvy's location. A Quantron attempted to kick me thinking that I was beatable since I was distracted, but I ducked low and sank my glowing fist into its stomach, the next one; I swept its feet from underneath it and leapt onto it, landing with both feet on its chest.

_Ah, good. Looks like she's safe. _Ducking to the left and swinging my fist, I caught a Quantron on the side of its head and gave it a double kick to the chin, while single handled I closed my computer; and focused more on the battle. I saw that Psycho Pink and Cassie were busily fighting each other. Sending a Quantron flying with a double kick to the chin mixed with a Power Blast to the stomach, I froze when I heard a yell of fright that was unlike my team mates yells. Looking up, I spotted an old woman surrounded by Quantrons. I morphed and shot forward. Levitating myself, and zoomed toward each and every Quantron, striking them in the chest. I materialized and crouched down b y the woman.

"Are you all right?" I asked her. She responded by cackling and slapping hand cuffs on me.

"What the?" I looked up at her and it clicked. _Psycho Yellow_!

"You Rangers are so easily fooled." She laughed.

"Oh, give me a break. I said as I concentrated and slipped free of the handcuffs.

"What? How did you do that? No one as ever escaped from those handcuffs before." She yelled angrily.

"Yeah, well. I'm not exactly like everybody else." I pointed out while I powered up. She fired at me; I somersaulted in the air and fired a Power Blast, which hit its mark. She fell back, I was about to continue the attack with my sword when…

"Cassie!" I turned and Psycho Yellow sucker punched me. I fell onto my back, Psycho Yellow bent toward me, her arm outstretched.

"Finally, I have you right where I want you." I grabbed her arm as though I were trying to force it back.

"Guess again. Power Blast!" A bolt of power raced from my hand up her arm, she let out a scream as she was engulfed by it and staggered a few steps back. I got to my feet and powered up my sword; ready to finish her off. She dodged to the side as I came flying toward her, she blasted at me. I limped as fast as I could through the blast and began to try to strike her, but she kept dodging my movements. _Hmm…she knows some of my moves and can block them, so why is she still trying to Mind Scan me? _I thought; thinking that I should change my fighting movements for a bit; I leapt into the air, spun and using the both of my feet nailed Psycho Yellow on the side of the head which sent her flying. I landed and sent a silent thank you to Adam. Before we could continue fighting however, I heard my name being called.

"Amy!" Turning, I saw the boys were running toward me, the courtyard was empty of Quantrons. _Well, looks like they did okay. What a minute…._ The boys arrived in front of me panting.

"She got her." Panted Andros.

"Psycho Pink captured Cassie!" I turned back to the Psycho Yellow Ranger, but she had vanished. I turned back to the others.

"Right." I said in a tense voice. I shoved away the panic that rose within me.

"Let's get back to the ship."

The others had already filled me in on what had happen when Cassie was captured. I would nod every once in a while and say hmm. _If the Psycho Rangers are anything like the lackeys that I've encountered, they would a) taken her to a dark dimension or cave to drain her of her powers or b)they would have already taken her to Astronema, personally I think choice a fits._ I thought as I pulled out my mini computer and began to scan for any signs of Cassie's energy. A twinge of guilt went through me as I remembered arguing with her just before the battle, but I shook it away. _Feeling guilty won't help her._ I jumped as I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning I saw that it was TJ.

"Hey, you don't have to worry, we'll find her." For some reason, this struck me as funny and I laughed out loud. He looked startled at my reaction.

"I'm not worried TJ, Cassie's a big girl; she can take care of herself." I turned back to my scanning. I wasn't aware that TJ still hadn't moved and that the other two were staring at me.

"Amy, aren't you worried about what they might be doing to her right at this moment?" asked Carlos.

"Of course I am," I said without looking up from my computer; it was now scanning the moon, I knew that there was at least a dozen caves underneath the surface, a long shot but you couldn't be too careful.

"It'll do us no good to stand around and let our imaginations run away with us and wish that we had done something to prevent it from ever happening. No matter how much we wish it or how much we pray and think "If only we had done something" we can not turn back time." My computer beeped around the same time as A-6 announced.

"I found her!"

"Let's go!" shouted Andros. He and the others darted back toward the door and down the hall. I had stood up as well and turned to A-6 with an amused expression on my face.

"Ya know, I could have teleported them." I said, as I pressed two buttons on my computer and vanished in a yellow light.

As a result I reached Cassie first and caught her just as she was about to land on the ground after being blasted by Psycho Pink.

"What's up?" I asked her as I set her feet.

"Amy?" she said in surprise.

"The one and only." I quickly morphed and we sped away. Arriving at the other side of the park, I materialized and with my sword cut off the shackles that the Psycho Ranger had slapped on her.

"Thanks." She said rubbing her wrists, as I was healing her Cassie started to apologize for starting that argument with me.

"Look all of us have different viewpoints on how certain situations should be handled. Therefore it's certain to create clashes within the team." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Hey, we're only human." We heard our names being called, turning we saw that the boys had arrived at our location and were running towards us.

"Andros." Breathed Cassie. I turned sensing something.

"Ladies and gentleman here she is, Psycho Pink!" I called. Cassie and the others turned.

"This time, you won't escape me so easily." snapped the Psycho Ranger; as she began to walk toward us.

"I won't be captured again so easily either, my friends are here." Proclaimed Cassie.

"Do you think that they'll be able to stop me?" shouted Psycho Pink as she extended out her arm and blasted us, I threw up a shield and as soon as she stopped Cassie and I charged.

"Ranger Kick!" I shouted the bottom of my boots glowed with power and nailed her squarely on the chest; Cassie leaped over me and delivered a flurry of punches that knocked the Psycho Ranger back. In response she threw electricity at us; I grabbed Cassie and both of us morphed and began to zig zag this way and that tried to stay out of range.

"Amy, there is a way to destroy the Psycho Ranger once and for all, just follow my lead." Making a wide U-turn, we headed straight for the Psycho, materializing, we both rushed her.

She blasted at us, Cassie and I both took off in different directions. Cassie, headed straight for the Psycho Ranger while dodging several blasts, as soon as she was close enough she leapt!

"Battle Blade!" A blade appeared on her forearm and she struck Psycho Pink across the face. Psycho Pink screamed and grabbed her mask.

"Why you….!" She screamed angrily but a voice made her freeze.

"Yellow Ranger Power Blast!" She turned and screamed again as my Power Blast sped toward her and hit its mark! She fell to the ground, smoke rising from her suit. Cassie and I were joined by the boys.

"Good work guys." Said TJ.

"Thanks." Cassie said. I nodded, then turned as, unbelievably, Psycho Pink staggered to her feet to face all of us.

"I'm not finished with you yet Rangers." She began to crackle with energy and began to laugh manically, but I saw that she had a large hole in her mask. _Her armor's been cracked. _ I morphed and shot forward, racing as fast as I could, behind me I could hear the others shouting.

"What's happening?"

"What's Amy doing?" I had materialized in front of the Psycho with my powered up sword held high. Bringing down my sword on the Psycho's head, it went through the helmet! Her scream of pain echoed throughout the air and when I leap backwards, did she finally drop to her knees and explode!

**Writer's notice: I'm going to be taking a bit of break for about two weeks, ya know, recharge. I'll let you guys know when I'm back**


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Getting back to the Astro Mega Ship everyone was really glad and relieved to hear that Cassie had not been too badly hurt while she had been held captive. Taking a few steps back from her, to let the others crowd around her to ask questions; I, for one, was pleased to see that my theory had been correct. By turning the Psycho Rangers against each other, they would weaken each other and cause damage to their armor which would make them easier to destroy. I looked over at Cassie, who had her hand close to Andros's as they sat side by side. _I just wish the confirmation didn't at all have to come at the risk Cassie's safety. Still, I'm glad that she's okay. Plus Cassie and I are on speaking terms again._

I frowned slightly as another thought occurred to me. But the Silvy issue still hasn't been resolved. But…..with the argument that Cassie and I had before and the other's reaction to my suggesting erasing Silvy's mind, I'm going to have to go through with my plan. _I just hope it works and that they don't get suspicious._

I glanced down into my cup and drained the last of my soda. I was about to limp to the Mess Hall to get a refill when I heard Cassie call my name. Turning I saw that she was looking at me and so were the others, limping over I gave her a curious look. She cleared her throat.

"Thank you." She said in a humble voice. I blinked.

"For helping me in destroying the Pink Psycho Ranger." I gave a shrug of my shoulders.

"No problem, your plan worked like a charm." She smiled at me. I gave her a nod, turned and limped out the door.

Of course with the destruction of the Pink Psycho Ranger, there was a definite cause for celebration but it was a small victory. There were the other Psychos to deal with. _If anything, they'll pull all kinds of new stuff on us so that they will not end up like their fallen comrade, but they can't really do anything big, any big stuff they pull will probably cost them a lot of energy. _Putting my arms behind my head, I thought that we could simply annoy the Psychos so much that they will end up coming at us fast and hard; and while they are getting weaker after each and every battle, they will quite possibly turn on each other and blame each other for their failures, causing them to fight among themselves. _It'll take some time, and ingenuity, but I'm pretty sure that we can do it and finally be rid of them and get on with the search for dad._

I entered the mess hall, strode over to the Synthatron and got my refill. As I limped back down the hall I made a mental note to run through various battle plans and finishing moves that my friends and I have used against the various monsters that we had faced. _It won't hurt to unleash some old school battle tactics on these guys. They probably won't be expecting them. For the final touch I can overwhelm them with my super speed, speaking of which…_my thoughts turned to Darkonda and Ecliptor_. Those two seemed to have disappeared off of the face of the galaxy_, I haven't seen them in a while.I really didn't know whether their non appearance was a good thing or a bad thing. _Ever since we started this mission those two have been on our tail but now that Astronema's got the Psychos…. They are probably mad as hell that they are no longer fighting us themselves and I'm pretty sure that as soon as the Psychos are destroyed, Darkonda and Ecliptor are going to come after us, faster and harder than ever before._ I couldn't help but remember all of those times where I had been sent down to fight the Rangers by myself, it was a mostly because of with my powers I could easily beat the Rangers. Another thing that I remembered was Goldar and Rito complaining that they wanted first crack but Zedd told them no, I was more than enough of a match for the Power Rangers. After each and every battle Goldar and Rito would corner me and beat the living daylights out of me; _now that I think about those beatings that they gave me were out of pure jealousy and hatred. I'm amazed that I wasn't killed before I had completed my mission. But…maybe they_ couldn't_ kill me, due to being Zedd's slave, and being the only person capable of killing one of the Rangers. Because of that I was able to go on living but be weighed down with the guilt of the things that I had been forced to do. It was only after I became a ranger myself that Goldar and Rito had at last found the perfect excuse to try to kill me._

I was just passing by the bridge again when the door opened and Cassie stepped out.

"There you are." She said, stopping in mid step I turned to face her. It came as a slight surprise that she hadn't been hurt too badly by Psycho Pink and Yellow, I didn't see any injuries; no bruises no cuts. She had told all of us that she had been still morphed when she had been taken to the cave. She had been attacked several times by both Psychos, but thankfully her suit had protected her. I was glad that she hadn't suffered too much, the last thing that I would want; after arguing with one of my team mates, was that same team mate to suffer horribly at the hands of the enemy.

"What's up?" I asked as she fell into step beside me. She was silent for a moment.

"About the things I said before…ya know about Silvy…." I was silent for a moment, then, after breathing a silent sigh, I spoke.

"Cassie, look. We are going to have disagreements every now and then. Because we're individuals; and we each have different thoughts on how best to solve problems and to get through situations." _Just because we are team mates doesn't mean that we _have _to agree on everything. I've had a couple of disagreements with my friends and Dex. _I decided not to say this out loud.Cassie was silent for a moment. I continued.

"We also have different viewpoints due to our experiences with the Dark Forces, we go with what we think is best for the person and so that there will not be any tragic aftermath for anyone. The people of Angel Grove have suffered enough at the hands our enemies, Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, King Mondo, Prince Gasket and Master Vile. I just want to protect them from further harm. And I don't want any more innocent people who get caught in the crossfire."

"I know you mean well Amy, but…..erasing Silvy's memory….it…..it's just wrong, nothing good can come out of it. Think about Carlos, even though she did use him, they've become friends now. And you shouldn't take that away; we'll protect Silvy from Goldar and the Psycho Rangers. She'll be well protected with the six of us watching her." My right hand tighten around my cup,_ they still don't understand. What happened to Justin could happen to Silvy, and Justin was a Ranger. Don't they realize that even if we do keep a sharp eye on the people that we are trying to protect, they still get hurt._ I thought in anger. I struggled to relax my face so that my anger didn't show and turned to Cassie and said in a falsely cheerful voice.

"I know you will Cassie, tell you what, if ever Goldar should appear, I could use my computer to teleport Silvy to a safe place, far away from the battle." Cassie nodded.

"Yeah, actually I wanted to talk to you about that, I was thinking that maybe we could send her to the mall, or beach; anywhere that has lots of people…." We kept up the debate on the safest place to send Silvy. Finally we turned to a more serious conversation.

"The other Psychos will probably go all out on us the next time we met."

"I agree, they could have been watching us while we battled and destroyed Psycho Pink." Cassie turned toward me.

"They were watching?" Her faced paled a bit. I glanced at her and realized that I had scared her.

"They _may have_ been watching." I corrected myself.

"But I don't think they were, if they were, then they would have surely rushed to Psycho Pink's aid." Cassie shook her head.

"I don't think so" I glanced at her surprised.

"While I was in the cave Psycho Pink and Yellow began to fight over who would be the one to steal my power and finish that…that…mind scan or whatever they called it." I nodded without realizing it, and it wasn't until a split second later that I became aware that Cassie was staring at me.

"How… did you know that?" I blushed a bit as I caught her eye.

"Well….it was kind of obvious that they were going to do that to you. I mean I've been captured a couple of times so I pretty much know what to expect." _Most of the time._ Cassie looked thoughtful for a minute then she said.

"Speaking of being captured, you told me earlier how at one time you were captured, killed and brought back to life….how is that even possible?"

"Believe me, it's not all that it's cracked up to be." I said in a low voice tinged with sadness.

"How so?" asked Cassie curiously. I was silent for a moment, trying to think of the best way to tell her without giving away the fact that Aisha, the Power Ranger that I had killed, had also been there.

"When I was killed, I was….reunited with my mother, I was so happy to see her; I was more than happy that I actually began crying like a baby. I missed her so much. I still miss her." I swallowed and blinked back tears. Then took a deep breath, trying to shove away the pain that filled my insides every time I thought the moment that I had to leave her again.

"She told me….that I couldn't stay with her, that it wasn't my time yet. I still had things to do on earth. I begged her to let me stay, I had grown tired of all the fighting, tired of all the pain that came along with being a Power Ranger, of being me. I wanted to stay….in that place where we were, I begged her not to send me back but…..I had to."

I struggled to hold back the misery that welled up inside me; as I remembered leaving my mother and the peace, safety and happiness that I had not felt for a long time.

"I had to go back, my friends, they still needed me. The people of Angel Grove needed me. But mostly….I couldn't leave my dad without a family again." _Dad._ I looked up at Cassie, she had been silent yet she was wiping tears with the back of her hand, and then she opened her mouth and asked.

"A—are you glad that you came back?" I gave a small start; not one of my friends had asked me that question; Dex was the only one who knew that I _didn't _want to come back.

The place that I had gone to (_was it heaven?_)when I had died, I found peace there and I felt safe. Nothing or nobody would ever hurt me up there, no more pain or nightmares or fear of losing those that I loved as punishment for turning traitor. But….._Aisha had been right, it wasn't my time, I still had things to do, people to protect, promises to be kept and a future to look forward to…..Still….._With a twinge of guilt, I thought about all the things that Aisha had probably been looking forward to before I took her life. _I'll redeem myself to the fullest to make up for taking away her life and everything that she could have done. _ I looked at her for a moment, not really sure how to answer.

"Yeah, I'm glad that I came back, because if I didn't then I wouldn't have been able to grow stronger or kick Goldar's butt a thousand times over. Also I glad that I didn't abandon my friends and leave them one Ranger short, when they've just barely reconstructed the Ranger team." _And I'm also glad for not leaving Dex all alone. _It was the half truth, I know that it's selfish of me but I was pretty sure that the others would be able to carry on without me; they did have the Power Ranger Power Blast. But no, I couldn't just abandon them, not after everything that they've done for me. I gave a small jump as Cassie spoke.

"Amy, I'm glad that we put our differences aside to win today's battle, I just hope that we can still keep it like this when we finally destroy each and every one of the Psycho Rangers." I hesitated knowing full well that we probably _won't_ be able to keep this up, especially if we disagreed on a couple of things, _like the best way to protect an innocent civilian,_ but…. team work was needed, if we even showed the slightest sign of weakness or animosity toward each other, it would be used to against us. Soon Cassie left my room and I stretched out on my bed and thought about everyone's reaction to my idea of erasing Silvy's mind. I guess a part of me had always known that the others would see the action as bad and defintely un-Ranger like….._it will have to be done and not just for Silvy's sake, but for Carlos's and the others as well. _My eyes began to close slowly and I suddenly realized how tired I was, I opened my mouth in a wide yawn, I placed my empty cup on my stomach, it rolled off the bed and onto the floor with a soft _thump. I've already lost too many people to the likes of my former masters; mom, dad, my step dad, Justin, Kimberly. I have this incredible power_ was my last thought before drifting off to sleep, _but I couldn't save them._

_I found myself limping along a path, looking around I noticed that I was in a heavily wooded area. _Am I in Angel Grove? Or is this Eltar?_ Craning my neck back I tried to see the top of the trees and could just barely make out the branches. Lowering my head, I limped forward again not really caring whether or not I'd reach my destination (did I even have one?) but wanting to stay in these woods for a while, it was so peaceful and quiet here. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of the air and listened to the sound of the breeze and the rustling of the leaves. Exhaling, I soon began to cough. An acrid scent had reached my nostrils and hit the back of my throat making me stop in my tracks and double over coughing. Smoke! I thought instantly. But where did it come from? I forced my eyes open, and gasped which caused me to inhale more smoke. My eyes were streaming and I kept blinking rapidly to try to see past the smoke. Crouching as close as I could to the ground so that I was nearly laying flat on my stomach; I caught a brief glimpse of the fire that was engulfing the forest around me. The trees, the branches, the sky itself seemed to be filled with both smoke and fire. Even the ground around me, for I had soon realized that the leave covered path that I was on right now was, on fire as well! I cried out as I felt the searing heat. Scrambling to my feet, I struggled to concentrate, to drive away the fire and the smoke that seemed to wrap around me like a cocoon, engulfing me, putting me in a strangle hold. Come on Karmer! Focus! Spreading out my hands, I finally managed to push the smoke and the fire away from me. Forming an air bubble around me, I was able to breathe easier and my mind cleared enough to access the situation. I continued to push the fire and smoke back until I managed to contain it in a ball. Placing both of my hands together, I extinguished the fire; soon nothing was left except for a small ring of smoke that disappeared in a wave of a breeze. I looked around; the fire had completely destroyed the forest. Looking at all the beautiful trees that had once stood the branches now charred black and dead looking. A great sadness fell over me as I looked at the destruction, wiping away the tears that were welling up in my eyes I turned away. _ The forest was another thing that I couldn't save. _I thought to myself as I started to walk away. Then I stopped and turned my head back. Thinking that just a split second before I had heard something, a voice; whispering._

"_Hello?" I called. "Is anyone there? Hello?" I listened hard and strained my eyes to see past the dead trees, and the black branches; nothing was moving. On hearing nothing I thought that whoever had called out was probably injured or hurt very badly, I began to limp as fast I could in the general direction of the sound. Brushing past dead branches and ducking around trees and leaping over fallen logs I reached what appeared to be a clearing. I stopped for a minute, looking around, trying to see whoever had called out to me. But I didn't see anyone, nor hear them. I called out to them again and took a step forward…and stumbled and fell to my knees._

"_What the?" I looked behind me. And gasped. Lying near my feet, looked to be the skeleton of a young boy, I straighten up and peered more closely at it…and it turned its head toward me! I shrieked and began to back away as fast as I could as the skeleton began to rise slowly and began shuffle toward me. I spun, thinking that maybe I could possibly outrun it when, I saw that the entire clearing was littered with skeletons; all of who were slowly rising up and were making their way toward me. I backed away my heart pounding with terror, my eyes were busy searching for a gap within the army of the dead, big enough so that I could escape. But everywhere I turned there was nothing but skeletons! And they were closing in on me! They grabbed me and tried to pull me into the ground. I began to have the strange sensation of sinking, I looked down at my feet and cried out in shock as my feet disappeared into the ground, I had soon sunk to my knees, then to my waist. Then the realization slammed into me. Quicksand! I began to struggle but it was almost impossible to fight off the horde of skeletons that were dragging me down and the quicksand, which was now up to my waist! I concentrated hard, and managed to shoot upward, freeing myself. I looked down and cried out in shock. Those…..those are the people that I know…..those people down there were the ones that I couldn't save, that I had killed as….as the monster. Shock turned into terror as I stared down at the faces of my former victims…that had gotten in my way, that I had been ordered to kill, or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I also saw, with a thrill of horror, my step-father, my father, my mother and Justin. As I continued to stare down at all of them, chains seemed to shoot up from the ground and wrapped themselves around my body tightly, so that I couldn't move, they began to drag me toward the hands of the skeletons, who had grins on their skulls and were stretching out their hands eagerly toward me as I was lowered back down toward them, I struggled and squirmed, trying desperately to loosen the chains but, I couldn't free myself. I noticed that on the links of the chains were names, the names of the people that I had killed and that I couldn't save. _It's my guilt.I realized_. Even after all this time, after everything thing I've done; all that I have sacrificed, all of those lives that I have saved, all of the monsters that I have defeated…..I'm…still…..weighed…..down. _I had reached the ground; the hands were all dragging me down into a hole; which had opened up. I looked down at it and open my mouth to scream. A blazing heat slammed into me, the smell of brimstone and fire reached my nostrils. I heard the sound of laughter ringing in my head and my body went cold with terror. Zedd's voice reverberated; it seemed, all around me.

"You will never be free."

"No!" I began screaming as I sank lower and lower into the fiery pit of hell.

"No!" I bolted upright in my bed panting, shaking and sweating. I looked around the darken room, sure that I was going to see the skeletons and their grins coming toward me, but I didn't see anything or anyone. Breathing a sigh, half of relief, half to try to calm myself, I buried my face in my hands and wiped the sweat off my forehead. I slid off my bed and stumbled toward the bathroom, blinking in the harsh light that flashed on that momentarily blinded me. Groping my way toward the sink I turned on the faucet and began to splash cold water on my face. I leaned over the sink and lifted up my head and stared at my reflection. My reflection stared back at me; it was shaking with a look of terror written all over its face and eyes. I glanced down at my hands which were griping the sink, they were shaking terribly. _Are they shaking out of relief that I was able to wake up from that nightmare safe and sound in my bed? Or….are they shaking out of fear?_ I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to bring myself back to reality. But I couldn't think of any words of comfort to give myself. I began to laugh, then quickly stifled it, for it had sounded strange and unlike my normal laugh. _That nightmare….why does it have this effect on me?_

I sat down on the cover seat of the toilet and stared down at my hands, which were still shaking. I struggled to find a perfectly normal reason for why I was so affected by this nightmare. _Zedd's voice, it must be the thing that has got me shaking in my boots. I was always terrified of him, even when I realized my full power and when I had my friends to back me up. _I waited for a bit, but calm didn't come, I tried another tactic._ I'm afraid of where I'll end up when I die. All the terrible things that I've done and all the blood that I've spilled will surely be counted against me and….I'll end up joining Zedd and Rita in Hell._

_But I'm pretty sure all of the good deeds that I've done will cancel out all of the horrible stuff that I was forced to do, I'll probably wind up in front of the Gates of Heaven thinking, that surely there be some mistake? But no, mom will be there telling me I'm being silly. That I belong in heaven with her and my step dad and all of the people that I love, I was never meant for the Pits of Hell. Not with everything I've done to redeem myself of my crimes. _I waited, sure that I would feel better then limped back to bed thinking that the nightmare was just that, a nightmare that came from within deep my self conscience about all the people that I have failed and the guilt that I still bore. I looked down at my hands, they had stopped shaking. My mind began to be filled with the people that I had seen in my nightmare; the people that stood out the most were; my earth parents and Justin and Kimberly. Resentment and sadness filled me.

_I was born with this great and incredible power and what has it caused me? Nothing, but pain, misery and the loss of nearly everyone that I cared about._

_Still, these powers have helped me get my revenge on Zedd and without them I never would have met the greatest friends that a person could ever have, nor would I have never met the love of my life and future husband. _I gave a sigh as I flopped back into bed. _I have to be strong and not let that nightmare, whether it came from my own subconscious or from Lord Zedd himself, get to me. I have a mission to complete and I have to protect Silvy. _A picture of Justin surfaced in my mind, of his horror struck face as he found out that I had once worked for the Dark Forces. _I won't let what happened to Justin happen to Silvy. I'll do my best to protect her. _The last thought that went through my mind before I fell asleep was. _I hope I don't fail._

**I'm back and I hope you enjoy this chapter, if you have any questions or suggestions drop me a line.**


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

A few days later, I was still shaken up by that nightmare and began to keep a stricter eye on Sylvie. A part of me wanted to believe that with all of us watching her, Sylvie would be safe. Then I would remember Justin and my mother and step father. I remembered all too well the guilt and the grief that I had felt; and I didn't want the others to feel that way, not ever. It would be harder for them; this would be the second person that Carlos, Cassie and TJ would fail to protect after Goldar kidnapped Justin. What would make it even worse for them is if Sylvie was killed right in front of them. Andros...well...I'm not really sure how badly he would be affected by it since; to him Sylvie was just another civilian that needed protecting. But, I think he would be hurt badly if she was ever harmed, I mean, he lost his sister and he had nearly lost his best friend while he was only a few feet away,

Andros sat down across from me and studied his hands for a moment, which were folded in front of him. He seemed to be hesitating for he was waiting for me to look up. But I didn't, I myself was lost in thought; my computer was open and in front of me, and I was busily trying to determine how much energy the Psycho Rangers had left. _If they still have a large amount left, then I'm going to have to step it up a notch. _I shifted in my seat and a small smile came onto my face. _Looks like Goldar is going to have some competition._ I thought for a minute, then smirked. _Yeah right_. _Goldar knows all my moves, he knows how to counter each of my attacks, can get through my shields and knows just who to target. In fact he knows me pretty well already, he can anticipate my moves before I can even think, and that makes him very dangerous. More so with that staff. _

_I shouldn't be surprised by any of this, I mean sure I had expected one of my enemies to have become more powerful than me, after they've drained me of my powers, but….to actually store it in a weapon that is just as dangerous as the person who is wielding that weapon? _That and the fact that Goldar seemed able to wield it with perfect ease and precision….._not to mention the fact that he knocked me out cold once and I awoke in his bedroom…._I forced my thoughts away from that particular memory and turned them back to the Psycho Rangers. I glanced at the screen of my computer, frowning slightly as I read their energy stats: They would use at least 25% of their power whenever they faced my team mates, but when it came to me they had to go all out.And yet their energy levels were still pretty high, I studied the bar graphics for a few moments; _can't really see a difference; much less tell if we've even made a dent in making them weaker._ Punching in a few codes, the energy levels changed to **Defensive and Offensive **energy levels. _Their offensive attack levels are still pretty high, but their defensive levels are getting lower and lower, still…..they are at the same rate as everything else. _I leaned back in my chair and stared up at the ceiling. _Are they recharging themselves after each and every battle with us? _ A smirk came over my face._ I should reword that: are they recharging after each and every battle with _me_?_ _They must be, how else would you explain the energy levels of the Psycho Rangers nearly staying the same?_

I straighten up and began to type, _let's check out their armor._ I remembered what Andros had told us, how Dark Specter was draining dad of his powers and energy. _The Psycho Rangers energy comes from Dark Specter, Dark Specter's power comes from my father, since my team mates and I are trying our best to drain these guys…..does that mean that Dark Specter is draining more and more of my father's energy? _A chill ran down my entire body. _Oh god! Is my father experiencing the same sort of pain and helplessness that I experienced at the hands of Lord Zedd whenever he would steal _my _powers? _A sudden vision of myself being drained each and every day filled my mind; I felt sick as I remembered the intense pain that would go through me every time Zedd would call me into his palace. I would fall to my knees, and would look on in horror as I saw my power being absorbed straight into Zedd's staff. I remembered how I would collapse panting and crying onto the stone cold floor, plead for all of this to be a nightmare, that I would wake up safe in my bed, with an ordinary locket hanging around my neck, just an ordinary locket; _with nothing in there but pictures of my father and mother_, and no powers whatsoever; I would wake up any moment to find out that all of it was just a dream, I would wake up to my normal everyday life; with no danger, no monsters, no pain.

_But, that's not going to happen is it?_ I thought bitterly._ Not until the Psycho Rangers and Dark Specter and Goldar and his Tengu Warriors are defeated and dead…..I just wish that to finally fulfill all that, the path wasn't riddled with pain, pain of losing loved ones, the pain of losing the people you were supposed to protect, the guilt and the near madness that comes along with all of this. Dad and I, we're more alike than I realized. Both of us have not only lost the people that we loved, but also the people that we were supposed to protect. But with dad….it was ten times worse...imagine losing your wife and daughter in the middle of a battle, going to look for them after you've been trapped in a tube, finding your family, but not being able to hold them, to touch them, then realizing that your daughter has amnesia; and to have your wife taken away from you…..how can anyone live with so much pain?_ I shut my eyes, wanting to cry for my father. But I forced it back, opening my eyes and wiping away the tears that sprang to my eyes I focused once again on the screen. _We have to finish the Psycho Rangers off and quickly so we can locate dad and Dark Specter and finally put an end to all of this. I just wish he would contact me, just so I know that he's alright; that he's not….. Mom, Aisha, where the hell are you guys? _I thought angrily. _Don't you even care? Don't you want to help me to save him? Why haven't you given me a sign or visited me to tell me where he is? Surely you must know, you must see everything from where you are! So why aren't you doing anything?_

"Amy, are you okay?" I jumped, looking up I noticed that Andros was sitting opposite of me.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. Sorry about that Andros, you just scared the living daylights out of me." I paused and looked at him more closely.

"How long have you been sitting there?" he gave a forlorn shrug of his shoulders and puffed out his cheeks in a sigh. _Must have been a while._ I thought feeling a twinge of guilt that I didn't notice him sooner. Shutting down my computer and pushing it to one side, I lifted up my head and looked at him.

"What's up?" He was silent a moment.

"Well, it's just that….I keep thinking about Karone." I glanced away briefly, then turned back to him.

"Yes?" I said as a way to prompt him.

"I know that she's still in there, that there is still good in her….but now…..I'm not so sure. She wants to kill all of us, she sent down those Psycho Rangers, I…..I'm not even sure any more if Karone will ever get her memories back." I gave him a sympathetic look, I felt sorry for him. _The poor guy's been through so much. It's a real wonder that he can still go on._ I was suddenly reminded of dad.

"Andros, if you really believe, I mean really believe that there is still good within your sister, then there's got to be. You have to have faith and never give up, even if everything else looks hopeless." He looked at me.

"You really think so?" I nodded.

"Yeah, look, dad told me himself that he never gave up when he was searching for my mother and I, he never gave up. The same goes for me too, I'm not going to give up searching for him, even if I have to turn over every rock and planet in the entire galaxy. You found your sister once, you can find her again." Andros, after a moment, smiled at me.

"Thanks Amy." I smiled back.

"Hey, that's up I'm here for, to cheer you guys up when you're down." We both turned, hearing footsteps, TJ come running into the mess hall. He seemed breathless and excited as he told us to come to the bridge with him.

"What's up TJ?" I asked as I limped after him, Andros was right behind me.

"You'll see." said TJ. As soon as we had arrived at the bridge, I saw that Cassie and Carlos were there also. TJ walked over to a table that had a chess board on top of it, but instead of chess pieces, there were figures of the Psycho Rangers on one side and on the other facing them were figures that looked like us, I limped over and studied it. The others had all crowded around the table and were looking down at the chess board also, they looked up at TJ.

"I've got an idea about how we can finally beat the Psycho Rangers." My team mates faces all lit up and they began to ask him questions. Me, I was silent. Unless, Aisha was helping us out again; I really couldn't see how my team mates could possibly be able to beat the Psychos Rangers. The Psychos Rangers were monsters with power that came from Dark Specter himself….and so far….my team mates had gotten their butts handed to them a couple of times over.

Turning my full attention back to the chess board I watched as TJ began to move the figures that were us around until they were facing a different colored Psycho Ranger.

"Okay, here's what I figured out." said TJ, he had an excited gleam in his eye.

"The Psychos know all of our fighting moves right?"

"All except for Amy's." Carlos muttered. I felt my face burn a bit but with great restraint, resisted the urge to give him a good kick.

"Right. Except for Amy's." said TJ glancing up at me, I glanced away, then felt foolish. _I was born with super strength and super speed plus I was trained by four different rangers, who happen to be my best friends. I shouldn't be ashamed of that, just because I can go toe to toe with the Psycho Rangers and you guys can't. _I turned my head and stared into TJ's eyes, as if daring him to say something. Instead he turned away and addressed all of us.

"Since we can't beat the Psychos who specifically know our fighting moves, each of us can make a switch. Fight a different Psycho that _doesn't_ know our fighting moves." The others got it in a split second.

"Brilliant! "said Carlos.

"This way we can easily beat the Psycho that we are facing, because they won't know what kind of fighting moves that we will be using against them." said Andros.

"Exactly." said TJ with a proud smile on his face.

"It should work." said Cassie.

"It will work." added Carlos. I didn't say anything, having a thoughtful look on my face. I took a step back from the others and looked at them as the continued to congratulate TJ. It was a good plan, but _the Psychos are not as dumb as the monsters that the Power Rangers have faced, they'll be able to figure it out in no time and revert to fighting their colored counter parts. _Thinking better than to voice my thoughts, I kept silent and nodded along with everyone else, smiling and telling TJ what a great plan it was.

The alarm rang a few moments later. The others had determined looks on their faces as they ran down the hallway. Me? I was glad that my sword was sharp and that I was born the way I was, because I had a feeling that I would need every ounce of strength and super speed that I had.

We met the Psychos head on in the center of a shopping mall in Angel Grove, going along with TJ's plan, we faced off with a different colored Psycho: Carlos was fighting Psycho Blue, TJ was fighting Psycho Black, Cassie and I were taking on Psycho Red and Andros was fighting Psycho Yellow. The Psycho's seemed confused but they recovered fairly quickly and began to fight the Ranger that was in front of them. Taking a couple of glances at how the others were fairing, it came as a surprise that TJ 's plan seemed to actually work! The Psycho's were being beaten. They couldn't block the attacks that came their way from the Ranger's whose mind they hadn't scanned. TJ was giving Psycho Black a few good kicks to the chin, which kept the Psycho Ranger stepping back more and more. Andros was trading blows with his weapon and giving most of them to Psycho Yellow. Carlos had Psycho Blue on the ropes with punches and kicks. Psycho Red, was also being overpowered by Cassie and I, he couldn't block our blows or our weapons. I turned my head when TJ gave a shout of pain. Psycho Blue had shoved away Carlos, leapt toward TJ was now beating the living daylights out of him!

"TJ!" We all shouted, we turned away from our Psychos to watch in horror as TJ fell to his knees, in that split second, all the Psychos began to attack their colored counter parts. Psycho Black had rammed into Carlos with a vicious kick to the chest, Psycho Red was slashing at Andros. Psycho Yellow had given me an uppercut and a energy powered that sent me crashing onto the ground. She came toward me, Cassie tried to leap to my rescue but she was soon blasted away, she went skidding a few feet away from me and laid still.

_They figured out what TJ's plan was._ TJ was slashed again and again by Psycho Blue. I looked up as a shadow fell over me, Psycho Yellow was towered over me.

"You're finished." She snarled. I let out a laugh.

"Yeah right." My foot shot out, she saw the moved for she jumped to dodge it.

"Ha! You're going to have to do better than-"She started but the rest was cut of.

"Energy Blast!" She yelled as she was thrown as the same distance as Cassie. _Hmmm….I must be losing my touch a bit._ I thought as I climbed to my feet. _In the old days, they would fly even further. Uh-oh._ Psycho Yellow had gotten to her feet and was now busily attacking Cassie. _Oh great, nice on Karmer. _I started toward the both of them but a new sound reached my ears, turning my head, relief washed over me as I saw that Zhane was riding toward us on his Astro Cycle. Coming to a halt, he jumped off his bike and stood there for a few moments.

"You Psycho Rangers are messing with my friends, then you're messing with me! Now who's first?" _Oh for the love of…._

"ZHANE! WILL YOU SHUT UP AND HELP ME OUT HERE?" I screamed at him as I quickly morphed into a puddle of liquid and shot toward my enemies. I headed for Psycho Red first, weaving around him, causing him to step away from Andros. I pulled back a bit them slammed into him. He fell backward, spinning in midair I began to attack the Black and Yellow Psycho Rangers; weaving around them, striking them with a mixture of Power Blasts, Energy Blasts and my sword; I succeeded in drawing them away from the others. While I was dealing blows to Psycho Yellow, Zhane had taken over fighting Psycho Red. Hearing another scream of pain from TJ, I turned fast, the guy was on his back, and Psycho Blue was about to deal the death blow. I quickly materialized and shot out my arm. I erected a shield surrounding TJ so that the Psycho Ranger's weapon hit the shield.

"What the?" he stopped for a minute bewildered, then turned his head in time to see me, glowing with power, I rammed him hard in the stomach and sending him flying Landing hard on the ground the other Psycho Rangers crowded around him as he struggled to his feet. My team mates and I were around TJ.

"Had enough?" I called to all of them, in response the Psychos proceeded to charge, Zhane, the others and I formed a line in front of TJ, bracing ourselves for the impact but just as they were about to reach us, they vanished. I straighten up and looked around. _Strange…..every time they have us on our knees they're called off…..why? _I turned my head as I heard TJ moan. Zhane had dropped to his knees and had TJ's head in his lap.

"TJ, are you okay?" asked Zhane. TJ didn't answer, for he had fallen silent and limp. I also dropped to my knees and felt for a pulse. _Jesus….that Psycho Blue sure did a number on the poor guy._


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

When we got back to the ship, we took TJ to the infirmary. Je was healed of his injuries but didn't wake. Cassie looked worried for a minute but I reassured her.

"He's resting. He'll wake up soon." She didn't look convinced; I reached out and grabbed her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze, then limped toward the mess hall, thinking that TJ will probably be starving when he woke. Cassie caught up with me just as I was on the inside of the doorway. She had a perplexed look on her face.

"How could they have figured out what TJ's plan was so easily?" she asked. I was putting together a tray of food; I stopped and turned toward her. Letting out a sigh I explained.

"Because, they know how we think, any and all plans that we come up with to beat them, they'll see any and all weaknesses and use them against us."

"How do you know?" she asked rather angrily. I took out an extra cup of water for myself and drank; when I had finished I turned toward her and said with some impatience.

"Cassie, have you forgotten who you are talking to? I'm a veteran Ranger, who, at one time, battled side by side her enemies; in all that time that I've spent with them, I've come to figure out how they think. Thereby I can anticipate their moves and avoid their traps." I began to limp out into the hall toward the infirmary.

"Cassie, this shouldn't come as a big surprise that the Psychos saw through TJ's plan." I saw that she was about to open her mouth. But I cut her off.

"Even if they had never scanned your minds, they still would have figured it out. It happens when two enemies have been fighting each other for a long time, they can anticipate each other's moves, they can get inside of their heads; they can practically read each other's thoughts. They know each other's strengths and weaknesses and are able to use them to their advantage."

"B—but TJ's plan. How could they have seen through it? How could they have beaten us so easily?" We reentered the infirmary. TJ was still lying on the medical table and the others were still there with him. Privately, I thought that even Goldar would have seen right through TJ's plan. But I didn't say so out loud.

"Cassie, they scanned your minds, the Psycho Rangers know you better than you know yourself. " I set down the tray at a nearby table. The others had turned towards us and were listening.

"They probably saw what you guys were really up too and turned the tables on you straight away."

"Are you serious?" asked Cassie in shock. I turned to her and nodded.

"If I was on the other side, I would have done the exact same thing."

"But TJ's plan…. No one has ever thought of it before…No one!" she protested.

"True, yet the Psycho Rangers figured out how to beat us…..and they did." She glared at me. I made my way to the door.

"Where are you going?" she snapped angrily. I stopped as the doors slid open.

"To check on Sylvie, Goldar must have seen the entire fight, I wouldn't put it past him not to; he's probably thinking of attacking Angel Grove right now, even as we speak." Andros looked at me.

"But how do you know?" I turned my head slightly so they only saw the profile of my face.

"I would." Was all I said and I limped out into the hall and toward my room.

Finding my computer on my desk open and already alerting me of Goldar's attack. Hurrying over to it, I picked it up and looked at the screen; and let out a sharp gasp. Goldar and his Tengu Warriors were attacking an elementary school. Without a moment to spare, I morphed and teleported myself directly into the middle of the chaos. People were running, screaming, grabbing their kids only to be stopped before they got to safety by the Tengu Warriors, who would leap out of the sky. Concentrating, I managed to save some of them, by erecting shields around the parents and the kids. Several of the Tengu, would land in front of parents and start toward them only to be yanked backward and launched into the air as if fired by a catapult.

"Hurry! Get out of here! Get to safety!" I shouted as I limped as fast as I could, using telekinesis and any materials that I could use to fling at the Tengu Warriors to deflect their attacks. The Tengus, as soon as they saw me changed course and began to attack me. Flipping myself onto my back and performing a break dance move, by spinning on my back and kicking out my legs, I managed to knock some off balance; I flipped onto my feet, leapt and preformed a double spin while at the same time kicking the Tengu on their heads, making them cry out in pain. I landed in the midst of them, crouched low and kicked their feet out from underneath one of them and punched out the others.

A woman, broke away from the crowd running toward the front gate, headed straight for me and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"The children! Some of them couldn't get out, t-that monster he has them!" she shrieked.

"Where?" I demanded. The woman struggled to speak, panic, fear and near hysteria made her stumble over her words. Without even thinking, I slapped her across the face, to get her to pull herself together. I grabbed her by the shoulders and nearly shook her.

"Where is he? Where's Goldar?" I shouted. With one hand holding one side of her face, she pointed with the other toward the playground, near the front of the school. I released her.

"Thanks." I called back to her. Morphing into a puddle of liquid, I reached the front of the school in no time flat.

The first thing, I saw was the body of a man in a suit, and a young woman near the sandbox; my first thought was that they were possible parents of some of the captured children. The both of them were lying in pools of blood, limping toward them, I knelt down and healed them, they both sat up; looking startled that they were alive.

"Quickly. Get out of here, the both of you!"

"The children!" said the woman; I could see that she was going to work herself into a panic. I grabbed her and gave her shove toward the man.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to the kids, I can promise you that Get to some place safe." The two adults hesitated, then nodded and took off.

I stood up and began to limp toward the front of the school. Even from this distance I could see that Goldar and a couple of his Tengu warriors were waiting for me. That didn't surprise me too much, but then I noticed that several of the Tengu Warriors seemed to be guarding something; a couple of them had their backs to me while the others were facing me. Some of the Tengu became aware that I was looking in their direction and shifted a little bit, just enough so that I had a view: My blood ran cold, they were guarding a group of children, first and second graders by the looks of it! Some of them were cowering in fear of the Tengu Warriors who were bent over them cackling, enjoying their fear and the shrieks that came out of the kids' mouths. Goldar would glance at the prisoners and laugh as well. Then he stopped and turned slowly toward me when I approached. Without even speaking he lifted up one hand and waved it, all of us turned, the sound of metal scraping against metal filled the playground; the merry go round; it was turning left and right as through it was trying to break free from its base. Soon though, with a final wrenching noise, the merry go round came loose, spinning and hovering above the ground, looking like a flying saucer, it flew toward me. I ducked as it passed over me.

Lifting up my head, I saw it make a wide U turn. Scrambling to my feet, I managed to spin out of the way as it came within inches of me; it was like I was some sort of magnet. Even after I dodged the thing, it would continue to fly at me. I was suddenly aware that Goldar was no where to be seen. _What? _I looked around and didn't anticipate the energy blast that slammed into my back; I went flying right toward the merry go round. The bars pummeled my chest and stomach; I could hear the children's shouts as I flew several feet and landed on my back. A shadow fell over me, thinking fast, I morphed into liquid and escaped being crushed. As soon as I had materialized however, the merry go round rose up into the air, leaving a 2 foot sized crater in the spot where I had been, and raced at me. At the same time through, Goldar appeared in front of me, sword raised. _Oh boy._ I thought as I narrowly avoided being skewered, kicking him in the chest and performing several jump kicks to the chin, I managed to beat him back while at the same time ducking the merry go round. Goldar, appeared in front of me again and brought his sword down inches from my head. Straightening up I nearly dodged the uppercut but had trouble regaining my footing, Goldar swept his feet from underneath me and leapt back. I stared at him blinking in confusion, then promptly rolled to the left as the merry go round skidded on the ground, just missing where I had been. Goldar was immediately in front of me bringing his sword down, aiming for my legs; I spread my legs so that the sword made contact with the pavement instead.

My sword, which had fallen a mere couple of feet away, zoomed into my hand, I made a desperate swipe at him, and he leapt back. Scrambling to my feet, I struggled to figure out a way to drive off Goldar while at the same time keeping the merry go round from flattening me. _Think Karmer think. Goldar is controlling that thing so that it will follow and attack me, there has to be some way for me to draw its attention long enough for me to turn the tables and make it attack Goldar as well. If I can survive that long that is. _I jumped over the merry go round as it made another pass at me and realized my mistake. Goldar met me in mid flip. Slamming face first into the ground, I thought that maybe, I was better off fighting the Psycho Rangers. As soon as I made it to my knees, I was grabbed and flung to one side, right at the oncoming merry go round. Morphing into liquid, I just barely managed to weave in and out of the bars and get clear of the thing; when I had materialized, the Tengu Warriors appeared! I let out a small groan, something made me look up, Goldar was grinning down at me and without even looking; I knew that the merry go round was beneath us. As if on a signal, all of them charged toward me.

Slashing, punching and kicking away the Tengu Warriors, dodging the merry go round and fighting off Goldar was nearly impossible. If I fought off one Tengu Warrior, another would pop up, as soon as that one would be flung away, I had to duck to avoid the merry go round and even after that I had to dodge Goldar's attacks. After failing to avoid one of Goldar's energy blasts and getting struck by the merry go round _and several Tengu Warriors; _I dove for the ground and erected a shield around myself, only remembering too late, that Goldar could pass _through my shields!_ _A few minutes, that's all I ask. _I thought as I powered myself up as he landed almost on top of me. I raised my fist toward him only to jump to one side to dodge the merry go round, after that the Tengu swooped in. _That's enough!_ Using my powers against the Tengu, I flung them all away.

Anger began to rise within me at how easily Goldar and his Tengu Warriors were beating me. But I still hadn't thought of a plan, to stop Goldar and that merry go round, _what if I stopped him but the merry go round went out of control? Innocent people would be hurt._

_Wait a minute. The merry go round! Maybe I could use it. _I thought as a plan began to form in my mind. _Okay then. _I shot up into the air and hovered for a few moments. _I have to time this just right, first off….I've got to distract Goldar._ The merry go round shot toward me; I dodged it easily and at the same time, sheathed my sword. _Hope this works. _ I shot off in the other direction with the merry go round right behind me; Goldar was laughing as he watched me fly this way and that way, there were a couple of times where the thing had nearly come close to slamming into the children. But it wouldn't, amazingly it would bounce off the shield before the merry go round was within a foot from the children. _A force field!_ _It's probably too powerful to break on my own, and Goldar hasn't even used half of his power. I need something strong enough to break that thing and take Goldar down at the same time. _I ducked as the merry go round came within inches of knocking me out of the sky. I let out a gasp as it made a wide U turn and flew toward me. _Maybe…..just maybe... _I powered up, knowing that I was nearly out of energy; it had taken a lot out of me just to dodge the Tengu Warriors and Goldar's attacks. _I just need enough power to put my plan into action. _Twirling in mid air to avoid being flattened, I fired a Power Blast at the merry go round, and to my astonishment, the thing _absorbed the Blast._ At first I wondered how, since I knew that Goldar was only making it chase me but….no! There was no time. I shot toward it, the merry go round flew toward me; the children let out screams as it looked as if we were both going to collide, but I went underneath it at the last second. I spun so that I was on my back and fired at it. Once again my power was being stored within the contraption. Goldar was still laughing, thinking that I was trying to destroy it.

"Try with all of you might to destroy that thing, it is useless, in fact use up all of your power. You will make yourself easier to take down." _Not without a fight I'm not._ I thought as I continued to spin, dodge and duck the merry go round and fired more Power and Energy Blasts at it. Several more minutes passed, and I saw that Goldar and the Tengu Warriors were too distracted watching me and the merry go round's aerial battle. _Now!_ Concentrating with all my might, I vanished. Goldar froze as did the Tengu Warriors.

The children let out gasps and began to look around and ask questions.

"Where did she go?"

"Did she leave us?"

"Is she invisible?" Goldar turned angrily to the Tengu Warriors.

"Search everywhere! Find her!" He barked. The Tengu began to do his bidding but a voice made them all freeze.

"Didn't Rita ever tell you not to get distracted when trying to kill your enemy?" I was near the kids, right behind Goldar and the Tengu Warriors. All of them turned when they heard a humming sound that was growing steadily louder. They cried out as the merry go round shot _toward them_ and caught all of them within its bars. They were entangled and began to struggle to get themselves free. Goldar had gotten one wing free when…

"Yellow Ranger Power Blast!" the power blast collided with all of them, resulting in an explosion, Goldar and the Tengu all screamed as they were blown sky high.

"I'll get you for this!" raged Goldar as all of them vanished. The force field surrounding the children vanished, they ran toward me, clapping, cheering and calling my name as I floated to the ground. The merry go round landed a few feet from me looking the worse for wear. I fell on one knee panting as the kids ran toward me to pat my back or hug me.

"Are you guys all right? Is everyone all right?" I asked them, even though I could see that none of them were injured or hurt in any way. The kids all nodded and began to babble, they began to tell me how cool I was, how scared they were, and how I was awesome and all that. I smiled down at them.

"Glad to be of service." I said with a smile, we all turned when we heard shouts. Looking up a wave of parents came through the gate, the kids began to run toward them, to be swept up, hugged and kissed. The parents thanked me for keeping their children safe and rescuing them, I only nodded and repeatedly said that I was just doing my duty. The crowd left, but a couple of the kids wrapped their arms around my legs and thanked me, a warmness spread throughout my entire body as I looked at the next generation of citizens of Angel Grove(and possible future Rangers) walk away, hand in hand with their parents. _I'll do my best to protect them._

I jumped when my mini-computer went off. Opening it I was surprised to see A-6 on screen.

"Yo Amy! Where the heck were you? I've been trying all day to contact you!"

"Oh," _I must have been too distracted with the battle with Goldar to pay much attention._ My felt my face grow hot with embarrassment.

"Sorry about that A-6. What's up?"

"Get your Ranger butt over to downtown Angel Grove, the others need you and pronto!" _The others? _I quickly brought the situation up on screen and let out a gasp. The Psycho Rangers and my team mates! But what's this? I squinted at the screen. _Psycho Blue appears to be halfway beaten….yes I see smoke coming from his mask! His energy level must be almost depleted! Oh no!_ The Psycho Blue appeared to have electricity crackling all over him. My computer indicated that he was going to revert to his true form, which was more powerful.I began to morph and high tail it over there, but the realization that I was low on power made itself known. _I need another power source to help strengthen me for the final blow. _I spied the merry go round, which was lying on its side, an idea formed in my mind. I materialized and limped rapidly over to it, I spread my hands over it and concentrated, I was tired yes, but _I've got to make this count._ Soon it was glowing brightly, leaping onto it; I levitated it and took off praying that I wasn't too late. I arrived in downtown in record time and saw that Psycho Blue was glowing as well as becoming more monster-like and growing. _Huh….well, there's something you don't see everyday. A monster that is growing without the help of a spell._ I heard the others shout but ignored them, crouching low to gain some speed and pulling out my sword and powering it up, the Psycho turned toward me but already it was too late. The merry go round slammed into him, Jumping clear of the resulting explosion, I turned toward the other Psycho Rangers but they had already taken off. For which I was grateful. I didn't feel like dealing with them.

When we returned to the Astro Mega Ship, all of us had stories to tell. The others explained what had gone on while I had been away. I listened, while munching on a turkey and tomato sandwich, about the new plan that TJ had come up with. I was impressed! Confusing the Psycho Rangers, my team mates had gained the upper hand by changing their suits to the color blue; they had managed to hold their own. The Psychos couldn't tell which Ranger they were fighting and had gotten their butts kicked. Zhane had shown up masquerading as Psycho Silver and with some pretty powerful attacks, had very nearly finished off Psycho Ranger Blue.

"Then you came in and did the job for us." said Cassie.

"I'm impressed you guys, you took the Psycho Rangers on all by yourselves. Well done." TJ looked down at the carpet modestly.

"Well, we wouldn't have pulled it off without Zhane's help." I turned to Zhane and nodded toward him, he grinned.

"By the way, where were you? Why weren't you with us went we faced the Psychos?" asked Carlos. I explained what had gone on at the school and the battle between Goldar.

"I just barely managed to get rid of him and the Tengu Warriors, I was hoping for a bit of a breather before A-6 called." Concern came on Carlos's face.

"An elementary school? Goldar attacked an elementary school?"

"Was anyone hurt?" asked TJ. I shook my head.

"No, thank god. Goldar had all the kids trapped behind a force field, but I managed to get them out." Sighs of relief came from my team mates; I had finished my sandwich and was struggling to my feet. I bade all of them good night then limped through the door and toward my room. It wasn't until a while later that I found out that the school that Goldar had attacked was the same school that Sylvie went to.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

As soon as I got to my room I fell into my bed with my clothes on. I was exhausted, compared to fighting Goldar and his Tengu Warriors; taking down the Psycho Rangers was a piece of cake. I closed my eyes and instantly fell asleep. A few hours later, I woke up feeling well rested, recharged; not to mention hungry. Rolling out of bed, I stretched and limped over to the bathroom where I took a quick bath, dressed in fresh clothes and made my way toward the mess hall. _Two Psychos down, three to go._ I thought to myself as I tried to decide what I should eat. Settling on some Chinese food, I ate while my mind went through the days events. So far we had managed to dwindle down Astronema's Ranger army and thereby gaining the upper hand in future battles. But….._they might grow desperate….and that could lead to underhanded tactics to defeat us. _Although somehow, I was sure that Astronema wasn't the desperate growing type and neither were the Psycho Rangers. _Wonder what new tricks they're going to pull on us in this round? I hope I can prepare the others for what's coming up next._

Unfortunately we didn't have to wait long: Limping along the plaza in Angel Grove, I wondered once again, why Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa and the rest of the baddies that the Rangers have faced; would attack Angel Grove in the first place? It's not like we're the _only_ city on the planet; there are lots of cities that these guys could have chosen to send their monsters. _But even if all of them had chosen to do that, dad wouldn't have stood for it. He would have called on some teenagers from the city's school, given them the power to morph into Power Rangers and the rest would have been history. _I was silent for a moment; oh how I yearned that Lord Zedd could have picked any other person to take on the role of killing Aisha; _then I wouldn't have to live with the guilt, I wouldn't have blood on my hands or have gone through the punishments when I turned traitor. I could be living a normal life right now. _ I passed a woman, who was holding a tissue to her eyes and sneezing violently.

_Maybe it's just something in Angel Grove that attracts these guys to us. Or maybe….._I thought back to what Tommy and the others had told me. How dad had trapped Rita Repulsa in a trashcan and sent her off into space; how she had crashed landed on the moon and two astronauts had released her. Rita had immediately set her sights on Earth; more importantly she had set her sights on Angel Grove.A sudden thought occurred to me. _Rita hated dad for winning a rigged coin toss and locking her away; so it wouldn't surprise me if she wanted revenge on him…..but Rita never showed the slightest bit of hatred toward dad, she only hated the people who destroyed her monsters and would humiliate her time and time again. Was it just a lucky coincidence that she chose Angel Grove? Or did she sense that dad was there and thought that she could try to repeat what happened on Eltar, only to hope with a different outcome?_ Whatever the case, Rita Repulsa had started it all; and with first attack came the first team of Power Rangers. After she had failed to kill them, Lord Zedd stepped in

and my nightmare began. A nightmare that I thought I could escape if I joined the Power Rangers and used everything that I had learned against my former master. When that didn't work, when the nightmares and the beatings returned; I came up with a new plan: Kill him and it'll finally be over. I'll be free. And I did kill him, but I had forgotten about his most loyal servant, who vowed revenge, promising that he would break me slowly and then kill me. And so far he was keeping to his promise, putting me underneath spells, telling me truths that I didn't want to acknowledge, messing with my head. I had come close to going off the deep end once…..I had to control myself so as not to allow it to happen again, I might succeed in seriously hurting someone. Or worse. _No! I won't let that happen! If I do…..then my hands will not only be covered in blood….they'll be drenched._

I cocked my head to one side all of a sudden, sensing something. _The Psycho Rangers? _ I looked around but didn't see any sign of them; at the same time I noticed that not one of the people around me had began to run around screaming in a panic, like they usually do when a monster shows up. _Are they invisible? Do they have a cloaking device? They can't really cloak themselves, or it would have showed up on my database. _I began to limp across the courtyard keeping all of my senses open while questions went through my mind: Why are they looking for us in such a busy place? Have they finally found out who we really are?

Is that why they're here? Are they looking for us? My heart began to pound slightly faster but then I thought: _Wait a minute, if that's the case, if they _have_ found out who we really are, then wouldn't they have made the discovery a lot more sooner?_ It always struck me as weird and funny that Astronema and her crew had no idea who we were; Rita Repulsa knew who the Power Rangers were from the moment they were first teleported to the Command Center (she told me so herself), she herself told Lord Zedd. King Mondo; I'm not sure how he himself found out, maybe from secret observations or something, same thing with Prince Gasket, the same thing with Divatox. What I found most amazing that none of them…Divatox, Gasket, nor Goldar had even bothered to tell Astronema our civilian identities. _Then there would be no need for the Psycho Rangers._ _We would just be attacked whenever we would teleport to Earth. It'll be just like before, always looking over our shoulders, hyper alert and fearing that our family members or people that were close to us are not under attack and are safe._ I shook my head._ No, I wouldn't want that on TJ and the others; they have enough to worry about. _I lifted up my head and scanned the crowd. _They're near._ But for the life of me I couldn't…A girl brushed passed me with her two guy friends. Something shot through me. I let out a gasp and turned my head to look at them as they continued to walk past. My eyes widen. My heat began pound double time.

_Human form. They can disguise themselves to look like ordinary people. I have to warn the others._ I started to limp to a secluded spot when a woman screamed. Not one to ignore a civilian in distress, I started to limp as fast as I could in the direction of the scream; hiding behind a wall I watched as the three Psychos had pulled a woman out of a phone booth. One of the Psychos's grabbed the woman by the face and after inspecting her he threw her one side. The woman scrambled to her feet and took off.

"It wasn't her!" He barked at the other guy glaring at him angrily. I noticed that underneath the leather jackets that they all wore different colored shirts. The woman wore a yellow shirt, _that's the Yellow Psycho Ranger. _The other two wore red and black shirts. _The Black and Red Psycho Rangers. _The Yellow Psycho Ranger stepped in front of the Black Psycho Ranger and shouted angrily.

"You said that you identified the Pink Ranger's voice." The Red Psycho stepped away from her, turned and looked around, punching a fist into his hand as he growled.

"She must have just stepped away."

"She couldn't have gone far" agreed Psycho Black. They all looked at each other, then turning they took off. _Why would they need to…? They're trying to find out who we are by our voices._ I bit my lower lip, my mind raced. I pulled out my computer and began to type. _Got to warn my team mates. _ After pressing send, I brought up a grid of the mall, searching for Cassie. _Ah, there she is. _I breathed in relief that they haven't found her yet.

Before I could move however, a message flashed onto my screen, opening it, I read the message. The others were freaked and were going to contact Cassie! I typed fast and in captions; telling them that they shouldn't use their communicators, that I already know where she is and am heading toward her location at this very moment, try to contact her all the same using a different method and tell her what's going on and to not make a sound and to also meet me at this specific location. Adding **Good Luck** before pressing send; I shut my computer and took off. Oddly, as I limped toward Cassie's location, I only felt the mild presence of panic and fear, it wasn't the same type as when Kimberly had gotten herself captured by Goldar and Lord Zedd, which had been more powerful and would convince me that Kimberly would be dead by the time we would ever reach her, I would anything and everything in my power to save her. _No, this is different, it's milder. _Even after all this time, after all that we've been through, Cassie and I…_we're just team mates. That how I have always thought of her, in fact that how I'm always going see her, as nothing more than a team mate. Not a friend and definitely not like a sister._

Soon I spotted her in the middle of the court yard, immediately I could tell that my team mates had given her my message. Thinking that I was going to be able to reach her; without the Psychos finding her I soon realized that it was not meant to be. I saw Cassie's gaze focused on something above her, her eyes widened, she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. Then; as though she couldn't help herself she gave out a scream

"LOOK OUT!" Stopping dead in my tracks I looked up also; a baby carriage had almost taken a spill down a long flight of stairs, luckily on hearing Cassie's scream the mother grabbed the handle of the carriage and pulled it back to safety. Unfortunately though; Cassie's scream also alerted the Psycho Rangers. _Oh great._ I thought with some irritation as I saw Cassie spin and take off running with the three Psychos right behind her. I veered off to my left and quickly morphing into liquid while passing several pillars and shot after them. Seeing that the Psycho Rangers appeared to be closing the distance I sped up and entangled myself in Psycho Black's legs, he cried out as he began to topple forward; struggling to regain his footing I gave him a shove toward the Yellow Psycho Ranger, both of them cried out as they fell into each other and onto the ground. The Red Psycho Ranger stopped and glared at them

"Will you two quit fooling around? She's getting away." By this time Cassie had rounded the corner and was no longer in their sight. I caught up with her as she was leaning against a pillar panting. Materializing, she let out a startled gasp. I went toward her and grasped her shoulders. _Are you alright?_ My expression said. She nodded a sigh of relief escaping from her mouth. Giving her a small smile we both turned when we heard the Psycho Rangers drawing closer to where we were. I grabbed Cassie, after morphing we slipped undetected between the legs of the Psycho Rangers, they were busily arguing with each other.

"We would have had her if you hadn't bumped into me!" snarled the Yellow Psycho to the Black Psycho Ranger.

"Me? I was about to regain my footing when you bumped into me!" they were both glaring at each other, the Red Psycho Ranger's eyes were narrowed he stepped between the snarling Psycho Rangers and turned to Psycho Black.

"What exactly did you trip over?" Psycho Black gave Psycho Yellow a dirty look before answering.

"I don't know but whatever it was made me lose my footing."

"Excuses. You're just clumsy and won't admit it." snarled Psycho Yellow.

Psycho Red ignored her and began to look around; my heart began to beat faster. _He couldn't possibly know…..still it wouldn't surprise me, we have been fighting them for a while now and they've seen most of my attacks and powers. _They were about to go back to the mall when the rest of my team mates showed up.

"Hey! Psycho Rangers. There is a rumor going around that you've been looking for us." Cassie and I found a pretty good hiding spot not too far away. We materialized, morphed into Rangers and joined the others.

"Ah, Rangers we are so glad that all of you are here. You just saved us the trouble of hunting you down one by one." _Why are they always so cocky? They've had their butts handed to them about a million times and still they act all cocky and are sure of themselves that they are more powerful then we are._ I let out a small sigh as I shifted into a fighter's stance. _Must be an alien thing._ They charged at us, we met them head on, splitting into three groups. Cassie, Carlos and Andros dealt with the Red Psycho Ranger.

Zhane and TJ handled the Black Psycho Ranger; which left me with the Yellow Psycho Ranger. _Maybe we can finally end this thing and go back to looking for dad. _I thought as I slid to one side and blasted the Psycho Ranger in the side, she managed to flip over it. In a split second I had appeared above her with one arm outstretched, my palm open and aimed toward her. Her hand shot out and she grabbed it in a tight and painful grip. I started to punch her with my other fist but she grabbed that too.

"Ha ha! Now what are you going to do Yellow Ranger?" In response I brought my head forward and slammed it onto hers. She cried out staggered back and released me. I quickly morphed into a puddle, shot forward and began to attack her furiously. _You guys have taken enough time from me, if it weren't for you we would have found my father by now. _I materialized in front of her, and unleashed.

"Power Blast!" she let out a yell as she was blown backward. I looked toward the others and saw to my surprise that they seemed to be beating the Psychos. _Hmmm, they must be on their last legs._ I turned back toward the Yellow Psycho when I heard her give a yell as she began to charge at me_. Seriously….can't these guys ever think of attacking silently? It's like they want us to be prepared for their next attack_. I shrugged my shoulders. Oh well, better give them what they want right? Upper cutting her squarely in the jaw, I brought up my knee and slammed it into her stomach, performing a tornado kick straight to her head, she recovered quickly and drew out her weapon. _Does she really need to pull out the sling shot? _ I unsheathed my sword and powered up. _Enough playing around_.

Using my super speed and she hers (I seriously forgot about this) both of us engaged in a incredible high speed, very-hard-to-see-unless-you-blink clash_._ All you could see of us were two streaks of yellow, ricocheting off of each other and flying past each other as blows were exchanged in our form. Finally, thinking of a plan, I shot toward her as if I was going to attack her once again, she shot toward me. At the last second however, I shot upward, she followed me, I shot downward at an incredible speed and appeared like I was going to slam into the pavement. But at the last second I veered upward again. She shot upward as well, up and up we continued at the last second though I veered downward, Psycho Yellow not too far behind me. While we were fighting, I kept sending Power Blasts her away; she would continually dodge them while laughing at me. Seeing her chance Psycho Yellow slammed into me, I cried out as I resumed my Ranger form and spiraled to the ground. Landing hard with the wind knocked out of me, I lay there struggling to get my breath back. Staggering to my feet, I saw Psycho Yellow walking toward me, confident that she had worn me down.

"I have you now." I smiled underneath my mask and focused my thoughts on the Power Blasts that she had dodged, they were heading our way, and soon they had her surrounded. Psycho Yellow froze.

"On the contrary, it is I who have you. Power Blast!" I shouted and all of the Power Blasts shot toward her, she didn't have a chance to try to get away, the resulting explosion gave me a faint hope that I had finally smashed her outer armor. I heard the sound of two more explosions; the others had succeeded as well.

When the smoke cleared the three Psycho Rangers had reverted to their true forms. Energy began to crackle around their bodies while they began to laugh. I shot forward powering myself and my sword, ready to give all three of them the final blow, but before I even reached them a black light suddenly shot out of nowhere and slammed into me. I let out a shout and began to writhe in mid-air, trying to break free of whatever had me in its grip, before I could even think of a way out though, I saw a red beam, and I heard the crackling of electricity. Slamming into me was the most unimaginable pain that I have ever experienced. I was sure that my entire body was screaming. My body felt as if it would explode just to make it all end. After what seemed like hours but could have been mere seconds or minutes, it went away and I sank into unconsciousness, far away somewhere, I could have sworn I heard someone laughing.

**Sorry it's late; I had to think up of an interesting way for Amy and Psycho Yellow to duke it out.**

**If you have any questions, comments or just wanna tell me I could have rephrased a line or sentence better, drop me a line.**


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

I woke up in a strange room, my first thought was that Goldar or Count Dregon had captured me. With a gasp I sat up and looked around, and gave a sigh when I recognized the Infirmary Room of the Astro Mega Ship. I ran a hand over my face; still feeling a bit groggy, sliding from the table that I was lying on, I began to make my way toward the double doors. Cassie stepped through them at that exact moment.

"Oh good." She said with relief. "You're awake." Her eyes filled with concern and worry.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as I began to walk backward and settled once again on the table.

"As well as I'll ever be, I guess." Shrugging my shoulders, I looked up at her.

"What happened?"

"I was hoping that you could tell me. Where did that blast come from? The Psycho Rangers were too busy fighting the rest of us to even give you a second glance."

I frowned and struggled to think about what had happened before I had gotten hit. A flash of a red beam surfaced in my memory.

"Goldar." I said grimly. Cassie looked surprised.

"Goldar? he was there?" I nodded.

"I must have not sensed him because I was too focused on finishing off the last three remaining Psycho Rangers."

"Did you see him?" She shook her head.

"No, we didn't see anyone, not him or those strange birds." I was silent for a moment, wondering why Goldar would chose to attack yet _not_ show himself when the last of the Psycho Rangers were about to be finished. _But I guess I should be relieved that he didn't show up, if he did then, the others wouldn't have stood a chance again him. _I smirked, thinking about the Psycho Rangers meeting up with Goldar. _He would probably destroy them in no time flat._ Cassie interrupted me.

"Were you under a spell when you were knocked out?" Now it was my turn to look surprised.

"What?"

"Were you hit with a spell that made you pass out? Carlos stayed with you while TJ, Andros, I and Zhane fought the Psychos but he said that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake you." I stared at her for a few moments.

"I—I'm not sure. I don't think it was a spell….it must have been an extra powerful blast to knock me out." I paused for a minute then glanced at the wall opposite me, half expecting to see a window there, but there wasn't.

"How long was I out?"

"Couple of hours at least, we all thought that it was because you had used up most of your power fighting the Yellow Psycho Ranger," I just barely stopped myself from snorting. "But we checked your energy levels, and they were pretty much the same level as when you're fully charged." I hesitated then blurted out.

"When I'm fighting the Psycho Rangers, I usually go at half power. It's Goldar that I go full out on." I slid off the table and limped toward the door, which opened at my approach, stepping out into the hall Cassie followed me as we began to head toward the bridge.

She continued the conversation even though she had a slight frown on her face.

"You fight the Psychos at half power?" She was silent for a moment. I glanced at her then quickly said.

"Don't get me wrong, I_ could_ use all of my strength against the Psycho Rangers, but then if I did that that and if Goldar attacked, I wouldn't stand a chance against him. What with that incredible power that he has; and those Tengu Warriors." Cassie was silent for a moment, she nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Goldar is pretty powerful. When you weren't with us….there were times when I thought that we weren't going to make it." I gave her a sympathetic look.

"Lucky you had A-6 and Dimiteria watching out for you guys." _Not to mention the Phantom Ranger._

"Yeah." She said in a voice that sounded a little down heartened. I decided that it was a good time to change the subject.

"So what happened while I was passed out? Did you finally put the Psycho Rangers out of business?" My heart plummeted when she shook her head. We had arrived at the bridge and we just stepping through the doors when the others converged on us. They seemed relieved that I was awake and okay and asked questions about what had happened.

"I'm not exactly sure, the last thing I remember is being slammed with something that caused me incredible pain; that must have been the reason I passed out."

"Did you see where it came from?" asked Andros. I shook my head.

"No, I didn't see who shot it." I changed the subject. "Cassie tells me that the Psycho Rangers are still around and kicking. What happened? I thought that they would be dead by now." It was Carlos who answered while the others exchanged uneasy glances.

"We were going to finish them off, but they blasted us back, grew big and….." he faltered.

"And what Carlos? What happened?" I asked, a growing sense of panic going through me.

"The Psycho Rangers stole the Mega Voyager." said TJ. I blinked and took a step back; I shook my head in disbelief.

"But how? How could they have stolen it? Surely the Mega Voyager must have a security system that _doesn't_ allow the bad guys from taking it?" I snapped. I turned angry eyes toward Andros, who had found the Mega Vehicles in the first place. He glanced at me then back down at the floor.

"I guess Zordon never thought anything like this could happen." I gave a snort and made a mental note to talk to dad and Tentomon.

"For your information buster, this has happened before. Master Vile, Rita Repula's father had captured the Ninja Mega Zord. Luckily he didn't do anything to it, since if he had destroyed it, then he would have destroyed the Zeo Crystal that was inside of it." The others looked up at me, confusion was evident on their faces, but now was not the time to ask questions about what I was talking about.

"What happened?" asked Carlos.

"We located the Mega Zord, retrieved it and kicked Master Vile's big wrinkly butt with it. Now we have to do the same thing with the Mega Voyager. A-6, start looking for it. Cassie and Carlos help him out. Andros and Zhane, I want you to keep an eye on Earth, Goldar or Astronema could use the time to start attacking. TJ, could you come with me please? We have to know the schematics of the Mega Voyager just in case they've taken it over and are piloting it. Let's move people!" I ordered.

A few hours later we located the Mega Voyager, it was on another planet in the M-91 galaxy. Checking the planet's surface, we could not detect any life forms, although there was plenty of plant life. The planet's surface reminded me of a jungle, with bushes and trees. _Plenty of places that the Psychos could hide and not be seen,_ I thought as I teleported, alongside my team mates down to the planet. I glanced around warily as the others ran toward the V-Zords, _someone had dismantled the Mega Voyager and I'm pretty sure that someone is still around here….probably watching us._ _If they are watching us and are thinking of setting a trap for us then….I'll play along…..and set a trap of my own when they show themselves. _Hopping in my V-Zord, I checked all systems. They appeared to be fine, no tampering with as far as I could see. _Still….._

I longed to hear my father's voice on the intercom, letting me know that he had found something unusual. I gave my head a shake and tightened my hold on the controls. _We'll find you dad and then finally we can become a family. Right after I kick Goldar's butt to hell and back for telling Dark Specter your location._ After we formed the Mega Voyager again and checked to see if all the systems were running smoothly, the Psychos showed up in their true forms. I raised an eyebrow when the others exclaimed in surprise. _Seriously, was there any doubt that this was a trap?_ Zhane, who was in his Mega Winger fired at the Psychos, we charged forward as well. _Have to wait for the right time, hopefully it'll be soon. Wait a sec. Where's Psycho Yellow? _I looked around while Andros fired several torpedoes and made the Mega Voyager throw some punches and kicks to Psycho Black. Zhane was doing a pretty good job of handling Psycho Red all by himself. I nearly jumped out of my skin when my computer began to beep shrilly; taking a look see, my stomach dropped. _Psycho Yellow? In the Mega Voyager? But I don't…._

I let out a shriek as I was nearly thrown out of my seat when the Mega Voyager came to an abrupt halt. I clung to my seat and struggled back into it, around me my team mates were asking me what was going on, why had we stopped moving? I froze when I heard Andros cry

"The controls, their not responding!"

"It is some sort of virus?" asked Carlos.

"What's happening?" asked TJ.

"Oh no!" I heard Cassie cry. I turned in my seat.

"Don't keep us in suspense, what the hell is going on?" I demanded, out of the corner of my eye, both Psycho Rangers had stopped their attacks and were now standing back and laughing at us. Over the intercom came the voice of Psycho Yellow!

"I can assure you, I am no virus. I have now complete control over the Mega Voyager and can it control with my will alone."

"Impossible!" cried Andros. "Only a Power Ranger can control the Mega Voyager."  
_Well…..theoretically the Psycho Rangers _are_ Power Rangers, even if they are evil._ I thought as I remembered something about the Evil Green Ranger controlling his very own Zord. _Wait. Was that situation different from this one, I don't think so, because I think it's pretty much the same thing…I think._ While I had been thinking, Andros had leapt out of his chair and was staring at the controls, which were moving by themselves.

"She _really_ is controlling the Mega Voyager." breathed TJ. We all cried out as the Mega Voyager did a full turn and began to attack the Mega Winger!

"Zhane, brace yourself!" I shouted into my computer. "Psycho Yellow is controlling the Mega Voyager!" By this time the Mega Voyager had dealt a few blows to Mega Winger.

"Andros!" shouted Zhane. "Stop!"

"It isn't us, you idiot! Haven't you even heard a word I've said?" I barked at Zhane angrily. _Oh my god, I'm sounding just like my mother._ Andros had sat once again before the controls and was busy pushing them backward and forward. _Yeah, as if that's going to work._ I thought sarcastically. We all cried out as the Yellow Psycho Ranger made the Mega Voyager unleash an energy blast, which struck the Mega Winger. It crashed to the ground, the Mega Voyager strode over to it, lifted up it's foot and slammed it down onto the Mega Winger. We heard Zhane cry out.

"Zhane!" shouted my team mates. The Mega Voyager grabbed the Mega Winger, lifted it up and slammed it into the side of a nearby mountain. Taking a step back to allow the Psycho Rangers to step forward, a blue light shot out of their eyes, the two Psychos had produced shackles, that latched themselves onto Mega Winger. He was at the complete mercy of the Psycho Rangers! The Mega Voyager suddenly jerked to a halt as we were turned around and stood facing the two Psychos, who were busy laughing at us. _Uh-oh. _I thought, immediately knowing that something bad was going to happen.

"Now Red Ranger," rasped Psycho Red "at last you are mine." Andros surprisingly didn't even flinch.

"Oh yeah?" he shouted defiantly. "We'll just see about that." Before either my team mates or the Psychos could do anything however; the Red Psycho Ranger vanished! We all let out gasps, my team mates asking the old question "Where did he go?" _Again with the vanishing act._ I thought, getting thoroughly annoyed. _Why are they always vanishing when they have us in their palm of their hands? What is Astronema doing? _After what seemed like a couple of minutes we all saw Psycho Red appear out of thin air and land on the ground, smoke was rising from his chest, in fact it looked as if he had been beaten. Psycho Black looked down at him.

"What happened to you?" _Something not very pleasant, I can tell you that much._ Having gone through what Psycho Red was apparently going through right now, I came to the conclusion that the guy was being punished for something. _He gets called back from the battlefield and a split second later he reappears, looking the worse for wear. _From my experiences that could only mean one thing: _he's defying Astronema and not following her orders or plans…..but…if she created the Psychos to kill us, then why is she always calling them back?_ So many questions, but they would have to wait; right now Psycho Red looked even madder than ever.

"Everyone keeps interfering with my plans to destroy the Red Ranger, I'm not listening to anyone anymore, Red Ranger you are mine!" He screamed as he pointed his hand toward us, red lighting shot out, entered the Mega Voyager and engulfed Adnros; who screamed as he vanished only to reappear on the ground outside in front of Psycho Red.

"Andros!" shouted my team mates; Carlos, Cassie and TJ had reached out their hands to grab him only to grab thin air. We saw Andros land face first on the ground, Psycho Red walked over to him, grabbed the back of Andros's neck, lifted him up and began to savagely beat him. Andros tried to put up a fight and tried to get in a few blows himself but from my view, they looked pretty weak. My team mates and I, on the other hand, weren't faring much better, with Psycho Yellow controlling the Mega Voyager, we couldn't dodge Psycho Blacks punches, kicks and energy streams, it was kind of like the time I was hung from the ceiling; unable to defend myself because my powers had been drained, while Goldar, Rito and Zedd beat, whipped and electrocuted me.

"If any one has any idea on how we can get the Mega Voyager back, I'm all ears." I called with a bit of sarcasm to my team mates. The only response was shrieks and cries as we were tossed about. _Alrighty then_. I closed my eyes and concentrated. My entire body glowed yellow until it glowed so brightly that the others began to take notice.

"W—what's happening?" I heard Cassie ask.

"Amy?" that was Carlos. But I ignored them; instead I focused my power on getting Psycho Yellow the hell out of the Mega Voyager. I finally located her. Tossing back my head I shouted at the top of my voice.

"YELLOW RANGER…..POWER BLAST!" The others felt a wave of power move throughout the entire Zord. All of them looked around rather uneasily. Over the intercom, we heard Psycho Yellow give an ear splitting shriek. We all heard two more yells coming from outside. Opening my eyes, I wasn't too surprised to see that Andros had managed to blast back Psycho Red; that was one of the yells we heard. The second one had belonged to Psycho Black, who had been caught in my Power Blast and was now struggling to his feet. And look who was beside him…..it was Psycho Yellow! She looked pretty pissed. _Wow! She looks almost as mad as my sister, Kimberly, when I had accidently spilled chocolate syrup on her brand new blouse._ The Mega Voyager was ours again! We all turned our heads when we heard a different voice over the intercom.

"Here I come Rangers!" It was A-6! _Why do I keep thinking that Ninjor is going to make an appearance?_ Down below, Andros had gotten to his feet and seeing the Astro Mega ship, quickly leaped toward it (_seriously have to ask Tommy how that is it done_) and took the controls. "Andros," shouted Cassie, there was relief in her voice. "Oh, I'm so glad." I chuckled. She turned her head toward me.

"What?"

"Nothing." Andros had already formed the Astro Mega Zord, he didn't waste any time and went toward the side of the mountain where Zhane was still chained up and freed him. The three Psycho Rangers looked at us as Zhane and Andros strode over so that they were on each side of us. They looked worried. _And they should be._ I thought with a smirk.

"Everyone ready?" shouted Andros, but in my mind, instead of Andros's voice, it was Tommy's.

"Ready!" we all chorused.

"Fire!" He shouted. Zhane, Andros and the rest of us all fired everything that we had at the three monsters. Letting out screams and yells, they were blasted off their feet. _And now for the finishing touch._

"Power Ranger Power Blast!" I shouted. It shot out of my hands and headed straight for the Psychos, they all reacted with surprised when the Blast suddenly split into three separate Blasts that hit home, before the Psychos could even try to dodge them. The explosion was enormous. When the smoke cleared thy Psycho Rangers were no where to be seen, unless you count the craters that they left. They had finally been destroyed.

**Start the countdown everybody!**


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

**Sorry this took so long, I just got a new puppy.**

I thought it would be best if I took a break from searching for dad, if I didn't then I would probably lash out at everyone like before, so in a rare occurrence, I spent the day with my team mates. Carlos invited Sylvie along; she had delightfully accepted and was now chatting happily with him and Cassie. All of them seemed to not have a care in the world.

I stared down at my Chinese food lunch and smiled bitterly. _Peaceful? What a laugh. _It was far from peaceful for my father and for me. I picked at my orange chicken moodily and felt the familiar feeling of sadness and frustration creep up.

_It's the reality that you are in right now, and there is no escaping it. Over time, it becomes all that you know; you start to think that you will never get out of this living nightmare that your life has become. Peaceful life? Normalcy? Ha! Those two things that people take for granted nowadays seem like a faraway dream. Sure you get out of your living nightmare for a while but it's just only so you can have a little breathing room for the next nightmare that awaits you. You desperately want to escape from this life…..but things keep happening and you wonder; will you ever escape? Is this going to be happening for the rest of your life? Just one nightmare after another? _I poked at my chow mien; scooping some up with my fork I put some in my mouth without really tasting it. I thought of my friends and my bitterness grew, even though they deserved normal lives, with nothing to fear or worry about except getting to their job on time or paying the bills.

_What about me? Huh? I deserve a normal life after everything that I've been through; I deserve to be out of this…..this nightmare. _This nightmare that I put myself in. I let out a sigh; _I would do anything to be carefree again; with no blood on my hands, no worries, no nightmares about my old master; a chance to warn my fifteen year old self about that bargain that she was going to make. _Moodily I speared a piece of broccoli with meat and brought it to my mouth, I chewed and thought: about how I should have thanked my lucky stars that I was never given any food during my imprisonment in Zedd's castle. I jumped slightly when I heard TJ chuckle beside me, I glancing past him to see what was so funny; I saw that Cassie was trying to teach Andros how to eat with chopsticks, I smiled slightly as Andros struggled to hold on to the chopsticks, only for them to slip out of his fingers and clatter to the table. Cassie reached over and grabbed them.

"Like this Andros." Grabbing his hand she showed him how to hold them. A feeling of longing surfaced within me; I remembered during one of our dates, Dex and I, had gone to an Italian restaurant and were both laughing about the size of the plates, they had given us way too much food. After a while he had gotten quiet, I didn't even ask what he was thinking about. He was thinking about his people on Edenio who were suffering, being starved and beaten; while he, the prince, was down on Earth relaxing, having a good time, eating large amounts of food that his people could only dream about. He would see me watching him and try to not put a damper on our evening. Not all of our dates were like that though; we would have a lot of fun, talking about our childhoods, our embarrassing moments and generally, acting like two carefree teenagers in love. Looking back, it seemed incredible that we were like that, despite the enemies that we had to face, the battles that we had to fight in, the nightmares that we had to endure. _It was as if, we wanted to forget who we really were, we wanted to forget that both of us were warriors fighting to save our people and planet. _Resentment went through me as I looked around at all the people chatting, walking, relaxed and carefree. _They may think that everything is calm and peaceful now, but underneath that calm, a storm's brewing, ready to unleash itself on the city of Angel Grove and its people. _ Andros and Carlos had both stood up, saying that they were going to get more Chinese food.

Not too long afterward, my computer began to beep rapidly and at the same time I sensed heat. Placing my hands on the table, and giving myself a push mixed with a bit of telekinesis, I propelled myself backwards; all the while at the same time levitated the table and used it as a shield. TJ had been thrown to safety while the others had leapt to their feet crying out as Tengu Warriors swooped from the sky and surrounded us, the others started to battle but they became distracted by the sounds of screaming. Turning, I was surprised to see people that had been enjoying the day shopping or walking around, now flee in terror of something. I started to run toward them, forgetting for a split second that I was surrounded by enemies. Goldar appeared before me and before I could do as much as blink; I had been entrapped in a cage made entirely of fire that rotated and spun.

"Did you forget me?" He cackled. While I struggled to break the cage around me, TJ and Cassie had morphed and were now trying to fight Goldar, but he easily deflected their blows and sent them flying.

A high pitched shriek sounded behind the TJ and Cassie, they instinctively turned. Goldar lifted one hand and blasted them away, right into the path of the monster. The monster stopped, startled for a second; then he cackled.

"Nice for you to join me Rangers." Cassie and TJ struggled to their feet, only to be showered in a red beam that the monster shot out of its head, the both of them vanished right before my eyes!

"TJ! Cassie!" Goldar only smirked.

"Finally, that takes care of them." He turned toward me, raised his hand and began to close his fist, the cage began to shrink. I gasped and put out my hands to stop the walls, only to snatch them back with a cry of pain. Soon my hands glowed, healing themselves. I stretched out my arms a bit, careful to not touch the burning walls; I managed to slow it down a bit, but I couldn't expand the cage any more. The cage began to close around me once again, I raised my heard and looked at Goldar straight in the eye, and he glared back at me. The cage expanded more; but ever so slightly. Goldar closed his fist tighter and the cage shrank. I was breathing hard, fear was making me lose my concentration, the cage shrank even smaller, I started to curl into a ball but I forced myself to straighten up. The top of my head was inches from the ceiling, and some of my hair began to burn, shaking my head to shake out any flames, I continued to stare at Goldar and concentrate. Sweat began to roll down my face. The flames seemed to grow brighter and roar stronger so that I felt as if I was in the middle of a raging inferno. My clothes were beginning to singe, and the smell of burning hair reached my nostrils. I remained steady; staring at Goldar, who stared back at me with the same look of determination that I had. _Both of us are more alike then I realized._ I thought with a jolt.

Goldar was determined to get his revenge for his fallen master, while I was also determined for getting my revenge on my father being put in that prison. _If I don't save him, he'll die in there, without ever seeing me, my friends or earth, the planet that he tried so hard to protect again. Even worse, he'll never even walk me down the aisle._ I let out a small gasp. _Dad, you don't even know that Dex and I_…..I began to struggle to push back the walls, they gave about an inch. Groaning and grunting I continued to spread my arms out, the walls began to move further and further away from me. _Dad, I'll tell you everything, everything that went on after you left. There is so much that you don't know, it isn't fair that you were left in the dark for so long about what went on in our lives after you left. You should know that Tommy's heart was broken but is being healed by Kat, Adam and Rocky; they finally found people to love in their lives. Kimberly, she's moving on with her life and fulfilling her dream. The rookies; are turning into fine Rangers, we met a friend of yours, Andros; he's helping us search for you._ The walls were still expanding; sweat was streaming down my face and my entire body now as I continued to fight. My arms were trembling from the effort.

_Dad, I haven't yet redeemed myself of all my sins, of all the horrible things that I did to you and to my friends but most of all….I will tell you in person, Dad about my wedding day; you're going to walk me down the aisle and you are going to be able to hold your grandchild in your arms and watch him/her grow up; but it'll be different, you won't be trapped in a freaking tube, you'll be there; in person and not watching from far away. _Goldar tighten his hold on the cage and tried to shrink once more even though he could feel me resisting.

"You won't win!" He suddenly shouted in fury. "I won't let you! I'll make you pay for betraying Lord Zedd and killing him!" He concentrated even harder. The walls began to shrink again.

"No!" I shouted. "Get back!" I let out a yell as I focused my mind and all the strength that I had._ Keep on concentrating. Push them back, you can do it. Give me strength. Give me strength please. _In an instant the cage shrank even further, I cried out as I felt the heat close in on my body. My eyes shot open as I felt a searing pain start on my back. _Oh no!_ I began to struggle to push the pain away. _I've got to stay focused, got to stay…._ Goldar laughed as he directed part of the fire toward my back and ankle.

"Let's see if you can push this away!" he shouted as he sent a wave of fire toward my back and ankle. He smiled as I let out a high pitched scream; I forgot about the cage and lost my concentration.

Hearing a _whoosh_ I looked up, only to see the flames close around me, screaming I put out my hands to hold them back, but the flames on my back and ankle! Shrieking and with my mind too pain filled to even think about putting up a shield, the cage closed around me Goldar saw that my hair and my clothes had caught on fire, he laughed as I tried to beat out the flames with my hands while the cage finally closed itself on me. The Tengu Warriors all let out cheers as a piece of my clothing fluttered to the ground. Goldar took a step forward, crouched down and picked up the small piece. He had the faint hope that he had finally did it, but he reminded himself that I had gotten out of much tougher situations before. He stood up and looked around.

_Where are you?_ He closed his eyes and concentrated, a split second later he opened them and looked down, the Tengus all looked down as well but before they could do anything; the pavement around and beneath them began to crack and splinter_._ The Tengu all looked at each other uneasily; all of them were thinking of taking off, before they could open their wings however, the ground exploded beneath them. Goldar was already up in the air and watched as his Tengu army was flung screaming into the heavens. From the ground came a series of yellow energy blasts that struck the Tengus, screaming they were flung even further way and without further ado, they took off. Goldar looked down, even though all he could see was dust, he knew I was there. _Come on! Come get me! I know you're there. You wouldn't want to keep me waiting. _The dust cleared, he scanned below in confusion. He saw the hole that I had made to fire that energy blast and he also saw the crater that I had created to try to catch them all by surprise, but he couldn't see me. He looked around, something made him look up.

In a flash I had materialized and was shooting toward him, my arm pulled back. He raised both of hands and fired directly at me, I swerved out of the way, in an instant he vanished as well and reappeared in front of me, I froze for a split second in astonishment _Holy….._ He slashed at me with his sword I cried out as the blood flowed freely from my cheek. He slashed at me again, I ducked and made to punch him in the stomach, but instead he grabbed my arm and twisted it. I cried out and pointed my hand at him to blast him in the face but he had already brought up his sword. I let out another scream as he sliced open my arm; blood spilled and flew into my eyes. I turned my head away and instantly thought _Idiot!_ I felt my other arm being released and was punched hard in the stomach, I doubled over and received a downward kick to the back, I flew toward the ground but managed to stop my descent, I turned quickly and dodged another of Goldar's attacks but as soon as I had dodged that one, he appeared behind me and blasted me in the back. Letting out a pained filled yell, I was shot upward, Goldar followed me, and shooting past he doubled back and rammed into me, then served me with a kick to the face. I felt the blood flowing from my mouth down my chin. He was below me in an instant and punched me in the stomach and kneed me on the chin. Raising his arms and interlocking his hands he sent me hurtling toward the ground. Before I slammed into the pavement and turned into a pancake, I felt hands grab me, stopping my descent.

At first I thought that it was my friends, but when I opened my eyes I was staring into the blood red eyes of Goldar. He laughed as he looked me over.

"You not even putting up much of a fight half ling. I'm actually a bit disappointed, I was hoping for something more out of you." To his slight surprise, a smile came onto my face.

"You want me to put up a fight Goldar?" I rasped. I closed my eyes, summoned energy and power stolen _from _Goldar himself, I blasted him back. He let out a grunt as he flew backward through some windows of several buildings. I levitated upward until I was a good few feet in the air. I rotated my neck and shoulders. _I could have used a lot more power but I don't think my body could have taken any more beatings. _I kept my eyes open as I healed myself and looked around for Goldar wondering if he was going to use the same tactic that I had used. _I doubt it, it actually took all of my concentration to disguise my power wave, and yet he still knew when and how I was going to attack. _But that wasn't surprising, I hadn't been concentrating hard enough and some of my power wave leaked out, making me noticeable. I made a mental note to practice more after this fight was over. I turned my head when I sensed Goldar. He was hovering a few feet away from me, and he had an impressed look on his face.

"Impressive. You managed to hide your power so that I was unable to sense you. Most impressive."

"Thanks, I'll work more on that later." He didn't even make a move to attack me. _What's the deal? What is he waiting for? _As if reading my thoughts he laughed.

"Don't you see? Look around you Karmer, look and listen." He paused and watched as I looked around and realized with a start that there was no one around. At first I had assumed that everyone had gone to take cover but….something about the silence that seemed to press on me from all sides….was eerie….it was almost _too_ quiet…. Almost as if…..I turned back to Goldar, who was laughing and nodding. Above us, the Tengu Warriors, who had returned were returned; now made a ring around Goldar and I.

"What did you do? Where are all the people?" I demanded.

"Please. Do you really think that I would kidnap people only to keep them _alive_? I thought you knew me better. No, this here; is the work of Astronema and one of her weakling monsters. Frankly, I don't know why she would do such a foolish thing, if it were up to me; I would have killed them all by now. But on the other hand….she has your team mates." A chilling grin came on his face.

"And where they are at, they can't morph, which means that they won't be able to protect Sylvie if something bad where to happen to her." My blood ran cold; spinning around, I starting to break the circle of Tengu Warriors that were around us. _The Astro Mega Ship. I have to get up there; maybe A-6 knows where that monster sent them._ The Tengu closed ranks around me; I started to blast them apart when Goldar appeared before me and grabbed both of my wrists. With his other hand he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

"I am not someone to push aside Karmer, I am more dangerous that all those weakling that are Astronema's subordinates, I am stronger than all of them put together! Do you hear me?" he shouted as he grabbed my head and blasted me back, I screamed in pain as I flew back and smashed into the side of a building. I looked up to see Goldar racing at me. I struggled to dig myself out of hole that I was in, too late; Goldar had appeared in a flash of flames and was punching me over and over again.

"I've dedicated my life to becoming stronger than anyone, even you! Traitor!" he screamed as he yanked me, grabbed my arm, flipped me over so that I was on my back, placed one foot in the center of my back and pulled. I screamed as he pulled my arm out of its socket. It seemed to infuriate him even more.

"SHUT UP! TRAITOR! FILTHY HALF LING!" he screamed as he raised both fist and brought them down on my face with enough force to break my nose. I went crashing into the cement, he didn't even wait for me to get up, and he shot down toward me and began to punch, kick and blast me further and further into the ground. All the while he was beating me I kept on thinking _Sylvie, the others. I have to get to them. But Goldar…he seems angrier than usual, almost to the point of psychotic. _Forcing my mind to turn to the battle at hand, I raised a hand and grabbed one of Goldar's fists; a look of surprise crossed his face. I summoned energy, raising my other hand and pressing it against his chest. He looked down, the armor on his chest glowed and seemed to streak underneath his armor and go down his entire body. _What the?_

"Release! Energy Blast!" I shouted. Goldar screamed in pain and in anger as the force of the blast shot him backwards and into a building, the force of the impact made a hole through the wall. I staggered to my feet and pulled myself out of my hole, dusting myself off of the gravel that was on my clothes and in my hair, I breathed a small sigh. _Another tricky move. Good thing that I've been practicing all of these new attacks._ I wiped blood off of my forehead. _They do need a little more work though._ I looked up at the ring of Tengu Warriors who were looking down at me.

"Anyone else want to see what new tricks I have up my sleeve?" I called up to them. The Tengu looked at each other, then at me; turned tail and took off. I smirked. _Turkeys. _I looked toward the building with the Goldar sized hole; I had heard something. I rotated my shoulders. _Looks like we are going for round two ladies and gentlemen_. Summoning my sword, I powered up; only then did I notice that I wasn't in my Ranger suit. _Knew I forgot something._ I gave a shrug of my shoulders, I preferred fighting him this way anyway, fighting Goldar; especially Goldar, in my Astro Ranger suit, felt…..strange. I heard the sounds of movement again coming from the hole, and braced myself for anything. Like a black bullet he cam flying out of the hole and slammed into me, I cried out at his strength, then I began to gag, one of his hands was around my throat. I struggled to loosen his grip around my throat but it was vice-like, plus I couldn't even fight back or summon power because we kept going through the walls of the buildings around us. I caught brief glimpse of the insides; a clothing store, a shoe store, a bakery and a comic book store. Taking one hand and balling it into a fist, I managed to punch Goldar in the face, luckily he didn't see the move since he was so intent in watching my face contort in pain as wall after wall struck my back. The move caught him off guard and we slowed down, but only for a split second. Concentrating, I managed to flip ourselves over so that now it was I,that was ramming him through the walls of the shopping center. I released him, while giving him a hard shove him through another wall; raising my arms and pointing my hands toward him, I sent a powerful blast of energy and flew backward as it destroyed half of the building.

Landing outside in the center of the shopping mall, I leaned against a potted plant panting, it only took me a while to look around and take in the full damage of what this battle had done to the shopping mall. Most of the buildings had been destroyed, windows had been blown out; glass littered the ground, there were also scorch marks and several craters. _I'll fix it up later. _I thought vaguely. I turned back to the building and watched with a small shudder as the roof collapse on itself and crashed to the ground, crushing the walls that had remained standing, and _hopefully crushing Goldar._ Clouds of dust rose up out of the wreckage, shielding my face with my hand I coughed and blinked back tears as the dust blew toward me. Clearing the dust with a small wave of my hand, I stared at the remains of the building. I breathed a small sigh; thinking with, false hope, that it was over, I turned away to being the search for my team mates. Until a ripple of incredible power made me turn back. Through the rubble I could see streams of black power shooting toward the sky. _Oh, great._ I thought in some annoyance, half of it I thought in some fear. My mind raced, I struggled to think of a plan but none came. The remains of the buildings suddenly shot upward into the air as Goldar unleash his power and fury; without another word he shot toward me, eyes blazing with hatred.

"YOU'RE MINE!" My heart suddenly raced in fear as he shot toward me, but this was no time to run.

I met him head on. The explosion that followed after; destroyed most of the other buildings had sent the both of us hurtling through the air. I landed on the floor and skidded for few feet. There was no time to rest, or to heal my injuries. I struggled to my feet and looked up to see a black streak coming toward me at lighting speed. Concentrating, I shot toward it. We met in mid air, as soon as he came close enough, I preformed a half flip, kicking him underneath the chin; flipping back onto my feet, I shot downward then upward punching him in the stomach with both fists, I remained underneath him while shooting upward and at the same time dodging his fists and feet by morphing and materializing. I concentrated; my entire body glowing yellow, Goldar saw what I was going to do and he wouldn't have it.

"NO YOU DON'T!" He shouted as he concentrated as well, I cried out as he managed to fire at me, I had to release him to dodge it. He pulled back both of his hands, heels touching and fired at me a high powered energy blast. I fired back at him. The two blasts met in mid air but they didn't explode, instead they struggled to push the other back toward its owner. I let out a grunt as I felt myself slid toward the ground; I struggled to focus on summoning more power_. _I felt myself slid down even more and Goldar's beam was pushing itself slowly toward me.Images of my friends, my team mates and the people of Angel Grove kept running through my mind. I struggled to push them away but it was they were there in real life, surrounding me, yelling at me, pointing their fingers at me, accusing me of not doing enough to protect; to save them. I lost my concentration for a minute and Goldar's beam leaped toward me, I cried out as I stopped it, but barely. _Come on Karmer! You can do it! Fight you stupid….! Concentrate! Focus! _I heard Goldar give out a yell as he sent more power to his beam, it was nearly on top of me!

"No!" I shouted as I struggled to push everything that I would miss if I died at the hands of this monster, from my mind. The beam stopped just a few feet away from me, I could feel its incredible power radiating from it, the very air could feel it, for it was rippling all around us, the very air was heated up, and I could actually feel it, sweat rolled down my back, stinging my scars. I winced, but kept my stance, but I still kept sliding and my power beam was being slowly pushed back, I heard Goldar's triumphant laughter. Anger and rage suddenly filled me, _that laugh. I hate that laugh, all of those times that he was hurting me, he was laughing. Him, Lord Zedd and Rito, all of them were laughing whenever they beat me, whenever they whipped me, they laughed when they took my life. _I thought of Justin and my rage grew. I remembered how the poor guy looked. Gray in the face, looking over his shoulder, unable to sleep; convinced that we wouldn't be able to protect his dad since we couldn't protect him. He had lost all faith in the Power Rangers. _I'm sorry Justin. I'll make it up to you; I swear it, starting today!_ Pulling my hands back, I summoned everything that I had, screaming I unleashed it! My beam shot upward; it was pushing Goldar's beam back toward him! Goldar's eyes widen as he watched both beams flying toward him, completely stunned._I-It's too big to dodge!_ He thought to himself. He turned and took off, trying to out-fly it but it caught up with him. He was blasted away until he was nothing but a speck in the distance.

I sank slowly toward the ground, completely exhausted; _now that was what I call a work out_. I laughed to myself but had to stop because it hurt to laugh. I was a bit startled to release that I had put away my sword without even realizing it. _Figures._ I began to pull myself to a standing position but my knees were too shaky and I sank to the ground again. I laughed again. _I'm surprised that Goldar is not the big boss of this entire outfit, he would definitely give Dark Specter a run for is money. _I rubbed my shoulder and winced in pain, I had only managed to heal half of my injuries. _He certainly is powerful enough._ Even though my body was bruised and beaten and every part of it screamed for rest, I groped for my computer pulled it out; and after a couple of tries(my fingers were shaking too badly) I teleporting to the Astro Mega Ship.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

I arrived back at the Astro Mega Ship to a whole new set of problems.

"Let me get this straight." I said through gritted teeth.

"You guys just _let_ Astronema take a couple of hundreds of hostages disappear into thin air along with the city that they were in, because all of you were too busy fighting a monster?" My voice level rose on the last part as I glared at my team mates.

"You guys could have split up, half of the team could have dealt with that monster and the other half could have gotten those people out of that city!"

"Well, began your pardon, O Mighty One, but we didn't think that Astronema would do something like that!" snapped Cassie. I shook my head in disbelief.

"Cassie, for god's sake….this is Astronema that we are talking about! If she can try to kill her own brother while she's brainwashed then it's more than likely that she will take a couple of thousand hostages and do who knows what to them okay?" Andros glared at me; I ignored him then turned back to the others.

"Okay, " I said taking a deep breath to calm myself down. "Where are we on locating this…uh…secret city…..as you call it?" Carlos shifted his weight and cleared his throat.

"We haven't found it yet." He said in a low voice. I scowled.

"Okay, we should search everywhere for that city and I do mean everywhere." _There is no way that I'm going to let Astronema, a lackey, hurt the people of Angel Grove, not on my watch._ I struggled to my feet, but then flopped back onto the chair that I was sitting in. "Shoot. Still weak." All of them heard me mutter.

"We are not weak!" shouted Cassie, eyes flashing.

"I'm not talking about you genius, I'm talking about me!" I shot back.

"That fight with Goldar….." Carlos turned his head sharply toward me.

"Goldar?"

"Yes. Goldar." I said with sarcasm. "Big dude wearing black armor, with a lot of power at his fingertips?"

"What was he doing there?" I gave a start. _What _was_ Goldar doing there anyway? And how did he seem to know about where the monster had taken the people? He couldn't be in league with Astronema, he told me that he was working for himself in this war. _ I thought about it. _Could someone on Astronema's team be passing on information to Goldar? But why?_

"Amy?" Queried Cassie; taking a step toward me. I snapped out of my thoughts and shook my head.

"He knew about the monster and what its power was, my guess was that he only showed up both as a distraction and as a way to severely weaken me." I saw the others stiffen, Carlos's eyes widen.

"Goldar is working for Astronema?" He whispered. I shook my head.

"No, but he seemed to know about where the people were being taken plus the fact that once you guys were captured; you couldn't morph."

"Where is he getting this information?" asked Andros.

"I don't know." I said truthfully. I thought for a minute.

"He could be following Astronema around, checking out her plans and making sure that I'm not there to help you guys by picking a fight with me and making me use up most of my powers while we fight."

"How do you know?" asked TJ.

"It's something that _I _would do." I said flatly. I struggled to my feet and leaned heavily against the console.

"You guys start searching for the city; call me when you've found it." I limped toward the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded A6. Putting out a hand to steady myself and wobbled a bit as I turned my head to give him an exasperated look.

"I'm going to get something to eat and try to get some sleep A6! Goldar is probably going to be waiting for us down at that city and I need to recharge my powers, I barely managed to survive this battle, if he's there and I'm not at half strength, then I'm good as dead, and there is no way that I'm going to die at the hands of that…..that…..mutant!" I glared at him. He continued to look right at me. Finally he nodded, and turned away. I turned back to the hallway as I stepped out, I heard Cassie mutter something and I heard Carlos reply. I didn't even turn back, I was too tired plus my stomach felt like an empty cave. Holding onto the wall to steady myself, I limped slowly toward the mess hall.

It seemed that only a few minutes had passed when I was shaken roughly awake by Cassie.

"Wake up! Come on! We found it!" she said excitedly. I sat up groggily, rubbing one eye and squinting at the bright light.

"F-f-found what?" I asked struggling to stifle a yawn. She looked at me in amazement.

"The city! The city! Where Astronema is keeping all of those people. Come on! The others are waiting." And she darted out the door. She poked her head back in just as I was standing up and stretching.

"Oh, you might want to change, you look a mess." I let out another yawn as it took my sleep fogged brain to register what she meant. I looked down at myself. My pants and shirt had been burned away in many places. I ran my fingers through my hair and could also feel that parts of it had been burned away also. Shaking my head to clear it, I limped to my closet, opened it and pulled out a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt. _No time to take a bath. _I thought to myself as I stripped down to my underwear and bra (luckily those hadn't been touched), flung my old clothes away and struggled into my new clothes. As I hopped around on one foot struggling to put one leg in I asked DECA.

"DECA, why are my light so bright?" The lights were immediately dimmed.

"Andros was calling you but you were asleep, I have tried to wake you numerous times with noises and bright lights to no avail, Andros had told Cassie to come and in and wake you." A worried frown crossed my face as I studied my reflection, while I ran a brush through my hair. _If that's true then, that battle must have drained more of my power than I realized._ I dropped the brush and bent down to get my shoes, only to realize that I already had them on. _Hmmm...must have fallen asleep with them on._ I thought as I limped out of the room, down the wall and onto the bridge.

"So, where's the city?" was my greeting. TJ turned toward me.

"It's in the ocean, explains why we couldn't find it the first time." I blinked in surprise. _The ocean? Well, least it's not in some other dimension; we should be lucky that Astronema doesn't have that kind of power._ Cassie, who was at the controls, was scanning the entire area for a way in. She frowned.

"There's a force field around the city…but it looks as if it doesn't extend all the way to the bottom."

"Then that's our ticket in!" said Carlos. I glanced at Cassie, and then I walked over to her console and looked at the readings. _A force field that doesn't extend all the way around its area_? _That can't be right._ I glanced around at the others and a flash of irritation went through me. _Why am I the only to pick up on something like this?_ I shook my head as I followed my team mates to the Mega Tank, a vehicle that could move over rough terrain and could move under the water. I didn't like it, too bulky and slow; if anyone spotted us while we were in it we would be sitting ducks. But I had to go with them on this one, with me at barely half strength; I would definitely be one dead Ranger at the hands of Astronema or Goldar. As the Mega Tank dropped us off not too far away from the location of the Secret City; I kept expecting for our presence to be noticed. But thankfully, as we crossed the bumpy terrain that was the ocean's floor, no enemies spotted us. I was a bit uneasy about this but I was too tired to really think it through. Thinking that it would be a while until we reached the city; I settled back in my seat and lightly dozed. I had to get as much sleep as I could, a lot of things could go wrong here, and even though Astronema's monsters and henchmen were easy to beat; if Goldar showed up, I would need all the power that I could muster. Until then, I would use diversion tactics and try to wear any opponents down; even though I felt like I would fall flat any minute. We arrived underneath the surface of the city and carefully drilled a hole small enough for it to be undetected but big enough for us to squeeze into. I looked around as bright sunlight slammed into my face; the others were just scrambling out of their seats and through the hatch. Carlos, who was the last one to go out, turned back to me.

"Are you coming?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I said, stifling another yawn. Struggling out of my seat and following the others, I clambered up out of the hole that the Mega Tank had made and looked around.

Secret City had all the appearances of a plaza, complete with buildings, a small clearing with trees and grass; and a tower. But….there was something about this place that sent goose bumps up and down my arms. _The sooner we save the people and get out of here, the better._ Limping after my team mates to the tower; where Andros had said was where the people were being held, the place felt empty. _If it's one thing I don't like, it's places that _feel _empty but are not really empty. Surely Astronema knows that we're coming to save the people, surely she knows that we are inside the City at this very moment. _I looked around. All seemed quiet, I was suddenly reminded of the time when Kat and I had walked into that trap while trying to recover the Pink and Yellow Power Coins. _Like the castle, there had been no guards patrolling the corridors and hallways, no alarms had gone off to alert Zedd that his two captives had escaped….it's just the same right now._ We reached the building, Andros had opened the door and gone inside with the others following him, I stopped and studied the outside. _No video cameras, no sirens that I could see, certainly to alarms that we could trip over….we are definitely expected._ I limped rapidly inside the building after the others, hoping that I would be able to warn them. Following the sound of their footsteps which led me down a hallway, I took out my computer and began to try to see what was in this place; _the people might be in the basement._ My head jerked up when I heard Cassie shriek; limping rapidly into the room, I stopped as I saw my team mates encased in some sort of red beam. Looking up I saw what looked like a laser, shining the beam down on my team mates.

"Karone!" begged Andros. "Stop it!" Looking to the left I wasn't at all surprised to see Astronema with Ecliptor behind her, manning what appeared to be the controls. I gave an inward sigh. _Can't these guys ever look before they leap? _I thought as I quickly began to type on my computer. I glanced up at Astronema, her face slowly began to register surprise, as she began to realize that something was wrong on her end, then it turned into anger. She whipped her head to Ecliptor and barked an order at him. The red beam, was slowly receding, my teammates noticed and were looking at me.

"Amy, what?" started TJ, but Ecliptor had appeared and was charging at me, sword raised; turning my mini computer toward him and pressing a button; I stopped Ecliptor in his tracks.

"What the?" He looked around perplexed for a moment, then he turned his head toward me and tried to take a step forward but was stopped by the force field that I had erected around him. He glared at me.

"Why you….!" He began to use his fists and his sword to try to break the force field, but to no avail. I turned back to the others, who had crowded around me.

"That was amazing!" said Cassie. I glanced at all of them, then without another word teleported myself to the control room where Astronema was. A look of surprise came on her face, before she could raise her staff however; I had grabbed her by the front of her suit and shoved her against a wall.

"Amy! Stop!" I heard Andros shout. _Oh, for the love of God Andros!_ I didn't take my eyes off of Astronema; who to my slight surprise looked impressed with me.

"You never cease to amaze me Yellow Ranger." She said with a slight smile.

"Cut the crap!" I snarled angrily. "What have you done to the people? Where are they?" She smiled even wider.

"I thought you were smarter than your fellow Rangers, why don't you take a look around and see what this room contains." I stared at her for a moment. _What's she playing at?_ Before I could make a move however, the others had joined me and Andros was busily trying to wrestle me away from her. I took a step back as Andros grabbed Astronema by the shoulders, she slapped his hands away. Cassie turned to me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded angrily.

"It's Karone!"

"Cassie! Wake up! Does that look like Karone to you? That is not Karone! That is Astronema, the woman that has sent countless monsters after us to try to kill us…..who went back to the other side and….." Andros turned back toward me angrily.

"She may have done all that stuff, but she is still my sister and I'm going to save her!"

"Saving her could also get you killed! Andros, you are blinded by your belief that your sister is still in there, what if she's not Andros? What if you find out that Karone is really dead and gone, to be replaced by this…this….woman? You will have spent the majority of your life trying to save someone who cannot be saved, or worse yet, who _doesn't want to be saved_, not after all the horrible things that she's done!"

"How dare you!" snarled Andros taking a step toward me, I stood my ground. I was struggling to bring him to reality, to the fact that maybe, she didn't want to be saved, that maybe she didn't want to face the full brunt of what she had done to the galaxy as Astronema, She would rather die than live with the guilt and the blood of the innocent people that she had killed.

"Andros…" I started but the appearance of Ecliptor brought us all back to the reality of the situation; he shimmered into the room and charged at all of us. Andros released Astronema and turned to face the charging Ecliptor, they traded blows but Andros was shoved aside; the others leapt forward as well to intercept him but they were brushed aside as if they were nothing! _The force field!_ I thought to myself as I unsheathed my sword and launched myself at Ecliptor. _My force field, he got out but….how?_ My computer was still open and in my hand and the urge to take a look at it almost cost me my neck, but I managed to fight the urge and closed my computer and adjust my grip on my sword. Swiping at him in a high arc, I forced him to turn his head to the left and punched him hard with my right fist. He staggered back a few steps and cried out as Carlos nailed him across the back. Growling Ecliptor turned to face him. I turned away from the battle and limped over to some of the controls and inspected them. Andros, Cassie and Carlos were all fighting Astronema and trying to talk some sense into her; I rolled my eyes, approached one of the machines, pulled out my computer again and began to scan the entire thing. As I stood there and tried to figure out what this thing was, I kept sensing a faint power source, but every time I tried to really focus on it, it would vanish; performing a quick scan of the entire building didn't reveal anything, so I went back to my scanning of the control panel.

"Amy! What the hell are you doing? Don't just stand there! Help us out!" shouted Cassie angrily.

"I am helping!" I snapped back. "I'm trying to find out what this thing is and where the people are!" _God! No respect. _ I turned back to my computer. _Hmmm, the readings show that the people are in this building, but it also says that they're in right in the room with us. Odd. _A few moments later the scan was complete and I stared in surprise and shock. _Key Cards._ _This thing turns people into Key Cards!_ _Surprising; yet weird. Let's see if I can turn this thing on._ I began to fiddle with a few of the buttons, following the schematics that shown themselves on my computer. _There, that should do it. Now all I have to do is load the Key Cards in this slot and the people will be returned back to their original form. Easy enough._ I was about to look for the Key Cards when I felt that faint power source again, only this time it was getting stronger. I glanced down at my computer, half expecting to see that Goldar was in the building; but no, instead it shown five sources gathered around the beam that was below us. _What the?_ Limping over to the window(while dodging Astronema as she battled Andros) I looked down, the ray gun that had turn the people into Key Cards was on, in fact it was shining it's beam down…but onto something that was slowly taking on form. Slowly the appearances of ten legs began to take form, then waists, legs, arms, torsos and finally heads. I stepped away from the window in shock, the battle that was going to around me; momentarily forgotten.

The Psycho Rangers were returning! Panic began to rise within me. _How?_ A moment later, the Psycho Rangers appeared in the room with us, everyone froze and stared in shock. Psycho Red locked onto Andros and flung himself onto him, Astronema scrambled out of the way and stood back as she watched the two Rangers go at it. The other Psychos followed suit, and soon Ecliptor had joined Astronema and was watching the battle. Slowly, the look of surprise on Astronema's face turned to glee.

"We'll let them destroy each other." She murmurred before both of them vanished.

"Hey! Astonema! You coward!" I shouted. Andros looked sharply in my direction and received a punch to the jaw. _I so do not have the time for this. Wish I could go all out on these guys but I'm basically running on fumes here. _Psycho Yellow blasted me back, letting out a shout as I slammed into the wall; I looked up to see Psycho Yellow getting ready to blast me again. The ball of energy flew at me; _Have to concentrate. _I focused hard on my remaining power and what little strength I had gained from those short naps that I had taken.

Putting out both of my hands and catching the blast, I had the energy I needed in order to take Psycho Yellow fast. I raised my head to face her; her body language told me that she was surprised and shocked.

"How did you….?" I gave a chuckle.

"You'd be surprised." I said as I transferred the power to my fist and feet. Limping rapidly toward her, I managed to catch her under the jaw, swopping low; I swiped at her feet, she jumped up; in a split second I had brought my leg up in a low arc catching her off balance. She cried out, with a punch to her chest I sent her flying. Right into Psycho Blue, who barely scrambled out of the way at the last second. Psycho Yellow struggled to her feet and with a growl charged. _Have to hold out until help arrives. _I thought as I whipped out my computer and began to type rapidly to the Astro Mega Ship, while at the same time dodging the Psycho Ranger's fists and feet, next I switched to Psycho Yellow. Typing rapidly into my computer; I leapt back as she took out her weapon but before she could use it, I had pointed my mini computer at her and pressed a button. It began to glow a blue color as though it was powering up. The Psycho Ranger leapt up and brought her weapon down on me, I went down on my knees and raised my computer, they collided in a shower of sparks, both of us began to strain against each other. I looked at the Psycho Ranger and began laughing.

"A sling shot! Seriously? You expect to beat me with a dinky sling shot?" She let out an angry grunt as she began to force her way toward me. _She is getting closer._

"I'll not only beat you, but I'll make sure that you feel every ounce of pain that you have given me and then some." I cocked my head to one side.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm in enough pian as it is, but thanks for the offer though. Oh, and another thing; you are not the only Ranger that can take something from another Ranger."

"What?" she snarled. She looked down and saw that her entire body was glowing; in fact a stream of dark yellow was flowing from her straight into my computer.

"How can you….? You can't…?" she sputtered.

"I can and I did. But I wouldn't want to touch it, bet it feels all slimy and stuff." With difficulty, even though everything in my body was shouting _stop!_ I took my right hand off of my computer and with an open palm took aim. I sank to my other knee but at least it gave me a small opening.

"Energy Blast!" the Psycho Ranger cried out as she was blasted back, I immediately scrambled to my feet and letting my computer fire away with short but powerful blasts, the Psycho Ranger kept staggering back; her armor was cracking; finally with one final blast it fell away to reveal the monster underneath. She began laughing herself.

"You have to do better than that to defeat me, you pathetic little….." she started, but she had stopped when she saw that I was charging at her, I leapt, preformed a flip and brought my right leg down on her shoulder, she gave a yell as energy crackled down her entire body. I charged once again and leapt, performing a cork screw kick that connected with her chest; I continued to beat her back and weaken her with the power that I had stolen from her and Goldar; even though it was next to nothing; I prayed that it would work. Smoke was rising from her chest and face. Angry; she fired at me, like before; I caught it and slid back a few feet; _that girl's still has some fight left in her. Good._ Bending the power with my will and transferring it to my left hand, I presumed the pose of a pitcher and threw it with all my might, right back at her, she dodged and when looked up; my feet her heading right toward her; the blast made a U Turn and was absorbed into me. My entire body glowed.

"Yellow Ranger Power Blast and Ranger Kick!" My feet connected; Psycho Yellow let out a scream as she felt her own power turn against her. I landed and unleashed the Power Blast! She gave another scream and exploded. When the smoke cleared, she was nothing but a scorch mark on the wall. _That takes care of her._ I turned back to the other Psycho Rangers, who didn't even seem to notice that one of their own had been killed. Psycho Blue suddenly leapt away from TJ and charged t me, I'm pretty sure out of thinking that he himself could destroy me instead of to avenge his fallen comrade. I slipped to one side s he brought his axe down on me. I jumped into the air as he tried to swipe t my feet in low kick. I landed, but I stumbled back as I lost my footing for a moment; which unfortunately gave him an opening. I cried out as he brought his axe in an upward arc and struck me. Struggling to focus and to push away my dizziness I was shoved against one on the panels, I caught the axe just as it nearly reached my head. The Psycho Ranger began to put all of his weight on the axe! My arms were trembling and my knees were beginning to bend under the full weight of the Psycho Ranger. I struggled to push back but no matter how much I pushed, I might as well not have doing nothing at all.

Just as the axe had finally reached my helmet and the Psycho Ranger was applying pressure to it, an arm suddenly came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Psycho Blue's neck and yanked him back. I slid to the floor while Psycho Blue turned to face my savior.

"Zhane!" I called happily. He only turned to me and nodded as he released Psycho Blue and took a few steps back so that the both of them were facing each other, they began to battle.

"We'll take care of these guys; you try to figure out how to bring the people back." He called to me as Psycho Blue charged at him. I nodded and opened up my computer.

"I'm teleporting you guys to the outside, this place is too small." Performing a quick scan of my team mates and the remaining Psycho Rangers and punching in the location where I wanted to send them; they vanished. I breathed out a sigh as I leaned my head back. After resting for a moment, I turned slowly and laboriously pulled myself up to a kneeling position, then to a standing position. Leaning against the panel and struggling not to collapse again; and praying that Astronema, Ecliptor or even Goldar wouldn't show themselves to attack me; I limped slowly to a file and opened one of its drawers. About a dozen yellow Key Cards where there, for a spilt second I worried that my friends had been caught in the cross fire and had been turned as well; then I shook my head. _Don't be ridiculous, you would have sensed something._ Getting a handful and on shaky legs, I went over to the controls once again; and began inserting the key cards one by one into the slot. Watching from the window as the ray began to shine its red beam down and brought the people back, I teleported all of them back to Angel Grove with a feeling of relief that nothing serious had happened to them. Once again, I began to wish that this was all over. The people of Angel Grove have been through enough.

An hour or so later I inserted the last key card and was surprised when Silvy appeared with a couple of other people. Silvy looked around in confusion for a few moments then she looked up and saw me. She waved to me, I waved back; scanned her and her group and teleported them to Angel Grove. _There, that's the last of them._ Punching in the location of my team mates, I saw with relief that they had managed to destroy the remaining Psycho Rangers. _Good and I hope they stay dead this time. _Contacting Carlos and telling him the good news the others let out cheers. Teleporting my team mates back to Angel Grove, I heaved myself of off the control panel and looked around. _This place should definitely be destroyed._ I thought, unfortunately I didn't have enough strength for anything right now. All I wanted to do right now was eat a hot meal and collapse into bed. _But first…._ Teleporting myself down to Angel Grove and after making sure that the other people were okay, I limped slowly to where I saw Silvy and her mother were hugging each other, the others were standing not too far away observing with looks of relief and happiness on their faces. I began to limp over to them smiling; but my steps began to slow, something tingled at the back of my mind and a feeling of horror went through me. _Oh no!_

"SILVY!" I screamed. "RUN!" The others turned to look at me with confusion; Silvy and her mom were also looking at me as I limped rapidly toward them. Before I could reach them, we all heard them before we saw them. Tengu Warriors! Cackling they swooped down right on top of Silvy and her mom and grabbing the both of them and yanked both of the away from each other. Silvy screamed as she struggled in the Tengus grip, but couldn't free herself. Silvy's mom was struggling to reach her daughter.

"Silvy!"

"Silvy!" shouted my team mates, they all leapt forward but something forced them back as though a giant hand had given them a shove, they collapsed on the ground but they scrambled to their feet and charged forward only to be stopped a few feet. _A force filed! _ Andros and the others were pounding on it, trying to get through. I was about to reach them, but I felt more then saw another force field close around me.

"No! Goldar stop! Please!" I begged as I pounded on the wall of the force field. I wanted to cover my ears to shut out their screams but I could hear them, both outside and in the inside of my mind. _Mom! I heard myself screaming as I struggled to get past the police officer who was holding me back_. _Dad!_ Goldar appeared in front of me.

"Notice anything familiar?" he asked mockingly. The Tengus were now holding the little girl and her mother a few feet apart, laughing as mother and daughter struggled their hardest.

"Goldar! If you so much as touch them I swear I'll…." I snarled, my horror giving away to anger.

"You are in no position to make demands traitor." He snarled, as he took a step back turned and began to walk toward Silvy, she began to struggle even harder and shouted for Carlos, which made the Tengus laugh even harder. Her mother was too panic stricken to even wonder why her daughter was calling on her friend for help. Goldar turned to all of us; the Tengus turned themselves around so that Silvy was also facing us. Tears were streaming down her face and a look of stark terror was in her eyes.

"Let's look at all of your records shall we?" He turned toward me.

"Amy Karmer, since you have become a Ranger, though you have saved the people of Angel Grove a thousand times over, you have failed multiple times to save the people that you care about. You have failed to save your mother and step father." I covered my ears to block him out, but I could still hear him.

"You have failed to save your adopted sister, Kimberly Hart from being captured, drained of her power, and being replaced by Katherine Hillard as the Pink Ranger. You have failed in protecting your father Zordon of Eltar, from being captured by the most powerful warlord in the galaxy. You should know, he isn't doing too well." He added as an after thought. The Tengu Warriors cackled some more.

"Looks as if your record isn't as spotless after all." He said with a smirk. He turned to my team mates.

"Now for theirs. The new Rangers, the ones chosen to protect the people of Angel Grove after the former Rangers have gone into retirement. So far your record is cleaner than hers, but what's this? Ah, yes. Justin Blake." My team mates froze. Silvy had stopped struggling and was watching with wide eyes.

"Ah, Justin, the first new Ranger that fell victim to the dark forces." The Tengus cackled.

"You should know that, that little incident counts against you, all of you since, being the youngest Ranger on the team and….the least experienced, you were given the task of _not_ only protecting the people of Angel Grove but also protecting your team mates. And yet….you failed to do even that." I saw that Carlos, TJ and Cassie all flinch.

"Goldar….you can't…." I started angrily. But he ignored me.

"Since all of you have failed to protect the people that you care about this court shall see fit that you, once again, fail to save another person that you care about." He turned toward Silvy and drew his sword. Silvy shrieked and began to struggle frantically. The others resumed their pounding on their prison walls but I….I had my head bowed. My shoulders were shaking and tears were streaming down my face as I heard Silvy's mom call her daughter's name over and over again. I heard the others shout to Goldar to stop. Then a moment of shocked silence, I heard Silvy's last gasp of air and the screams of my team mates.

"SILVY!" screamed the mother. The others were still pounding on the walls of their prison screaming anger and hatred on Goldar and the Tengu Warriors. A few moments later, I heard a _whoosh_ as he vanished and the Tengu Warriors had taken to the skies. A moment later the force fields had vanished and all of us stumbled forward. Silvy's mom had reached her first and was holding her daughter's head in her lap; telling Silvy to hang on please hang on. The others were around her; Carlos had fallen to his knees and was holding her hand. Cassie was trying to stop the blood flow from the wound in Silvy's chest. I limped slowly toward them until I was looked down at Silvy; she still had the look of stark terror in her eyes.

I knew what going through her mind right now; she had been convinced that nothing bad would happen to her, that nothing would hurt her; not when she was friends with the Power Rangers. But she was learning the hard lesson that I had learned on the day of my parents' death, the lesson that Justin learned when he was captured and tortured. _The Power Rangers can not save everybody_. Now, here was Silvy facing that same lesson and at the same time….dying because of it.

"Amy! Do something damn you! Heal her!" sobbed Carlos. I continued to stand silent knowing that I couldn't heal her because…..because I had used up most of my power in that fight with Goldar and Psycho Yellow. Cassie suddenly looked up at me with angry tear streaked eyes; she grabbed my hand and roughly pulled me down to my knees. She put both of my hands on Silvy's wound. But nothing happened. There was no yellow glow, no healing of the wound. Nothing.

"Heal her! Heal her! Use your powers!" Cassie shouted at me angrily. I looked up at her and shook my head.

"I can't." I said in a dull voice. Cassie's eyes widen in disbelief, but it was Carlos that acted. He released Silvy's hand and slapped me hard across the face.

"YOU CAN! YOU CAN HEAL HER! USE YOU P OWERS!" he began to scream. "You're like them! If they can kill then you can heal! Why aren't you using you powers?" he continued to slap me and I took it. In a way I thought that I deserved it. Having done nothing to save her in the first place, instead of worrying what my team mates were going to think of me, I might as well have inserted that sword into Silvy's chest myself._ She could have been saved_. Both of us turned when Silvy called out softly to Carlos. Carlos went toward her and dropped to his knees gripping her hand once again.

"I'm here Silvy, I'm here." He said in a soft voice that was choked with tears, he stroked the top of her head. She was smiling up at him.

"You're here. I'm glad." Her smile slowly faded and her eyes continued to stare upward. Silvy's mom, who was crying into Zhane's shoulder, cried harder still. Silvy was gone.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

A very subdued group of Rangers returned to the Astro Mega Ship still in shock over what they had witnessed. Carlos had slumped over in his chair with his head in his hands; his entire body shaking. Cassie, who had tears still streaming down her face walked over to him; knelt and put her arms around him. He gave a little jerk at her touch then laid his head on her shoulder. Andros was not too far away, leaning against one of the computer consoles and staring at the floor. He felt sadness stir inside of him and was a bit surprised that he could be affected by what he had just seen, considering that he had seen enough death throughout his life as a Ranger. He let out a sigh and lifted up his head. Glancing at Zhane, he saw that Zhane, who was staring his hands, too was also affected. _Why? _He thought to himself. _Why are Zhane and I affected so much by this, when we have seen death happen a thousand times. Why? _Zhane glanced up at him and their eyes locked for a second, he was the first to look away. Andros looked outside the nearest window and replayed the events that led up to Silvy's death in his head for the hundredth time.

"Andros?" Cassie's voice startled him so that he jumped; he turned to her and saw that she was standing in front of him.

"Andros don't. Don't think that you could have been able to do anything different; because in reality you couldn't, no mater how many times you replay in your head. It still doesn't change the fact that she's…." Tears swam at the bottom of her eyes and her voice broke, she buried her face in her hands. Andros reached out, put his arms around her and held her close. _Oh Cassie._ TJ was staring out the window anger coursing through him. _Why? Why did he kill her? She wasn't a Ranger, she didn't know about our mission. She had never even seen the inside of the Astro Mega Ship! So why? She was just an innocent; she had no reason to die. _He clenched his fistsangrily at his sides. He furiously blinked back tears. _Why couldn't we save her? We could have saved her! We were only feet away! Why didn't Amy warn us of the attack? Why didn't DECA? Why didn't anybody?_ He raised his head and glared at one of the computer consoles, he fought the urge to smash it into a million pieces, to smash the entire ship into bits…..and yet it wouldn't be enough to abate his anger. He wanted to track down Goldar and beat the living crap out of him…over and over again. He wanted to track down Goldar and make him pay a thousand fold for what he did to Silvy and her mom, but he wanted to make him pay for taking the life of a friend. _She was a friend, we're supposed to be able to protect our friends and we weren't able to….._

He slammed his fist against the wall behind him. He bowed his head, and the tears flowed freely. Carlos lifted his head up and stared at the ceiling through tear filled eyes. His mind was replaying the scene over and over again, he kept hearing Silvy's screams, felt his own shock and horror as he watched Silvy being ripped from her mother's arms, he saw Goldar's sword flashing, saw the blood appear on Silvy's chest. Saw her drop to the ground; he saw her look up at him, felt his own anger and sadness, but most of all he felt his helplessness that _he hadn't been able to do a damn thing to save her_. Memories of what they shared passed through his mind. He covered his ears and shut his eyes tight, he wanted the memories to stop playing in his head, he wanted Silvy to be alive, he didn't want her to be buried in some remote location in Angel Grove. _She should be alive; she should be alive and be with her mother. Not-not…... _He tossed back his head and uttered a shout of pain and frustration, he stood up spun, picked up his chair and flung it with all of his might toward the wall, everyone jumped and stared at the dent that the chair had made, now on the floor. Everyone turned to Carlos, who had an angry look on his face and kept pulling on his hair, looking quite demented.

"This wasn't supposed to happen! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! WE ARE THE FREAKING POWER RANGERS AND YET…..and yet….we couldn't save her…..we couldn't save her…." His last words came out in a whimper and he fell to his knees crying and calling out Silvy's name over and over again. Andros and the others took several steps toward him, surrounded him knelt and put their arms around him, A-6 stood not too far of watching, remembering the time when Kat and Justin were having a heart to heart talk right in front of him and Dimiteria. He had felt sick when they had hugged each other, but now, he only felt their shock and grief.

All of them looked up when they heard the sounds of someone teleporting; I appeared in the middle of the room in a flash of yellow. I looked down at my team mates, not at all surprised that they were all on the ground comforting each other. _Carlos must have had a break down._ I thought to myself as I glanced at the fallen chair and the dent in the wall. I let out a soft grunt as I turned toward the hallway, thinking that I should leave them alone for a while. Until then I was going to sleep, and regain my strength for the next battle.

"Hold it." I stopped and turned; Carlos had stood up and was glaring at me. Wasn't at all surprised when his voice, which had turned low and gravely and filled with anger and grief asked me.

"Why didn't you do anything?" I stared back at him; I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked at each and every one of them. I gave a sigh. Wishing that they wouldn't blame me for what had happened.

"Well?" spat Cassie. I opened my mouth.

"You, all of you knew full well that I was on my last legs, what with that all out battle with Goldar earlier in the day and the battle with the resurrected Psycho Rangers. When Goldar locked us in those force fields, there wasn't much I could do. I was barely able to stand as it was." Even to my own ears, it sounded lame but it was the truth. There hadn't been anything that I could have done, my own friends could have seen that and have forgiven me. My team mates didn't see it that way though.

"No! The real reason you didn't do anything, is because you didn't want to do anything." Cassie's face was twisted in rage. It was that same look that she had given me when they found out I used to work for Lord Zedd, this time though, my friends weren't there to defend me or back me up; I was all alone on this one.

"Cassie, seriously…not that tired old excuse again…." I said in a weary voice. She stared at me with a shocked expression her face, uttering a shout, she ran toward me with her fist cocked back. I dodged her punch, she preformed a tornado kick I ducked low and dodged that as well.

"Carlos! No!" I heard Andros shout. With a quick glance upward I saw Carlos's fist coming toward me and heard rather then saw Cassie behind me. I hit the floor and both of their fists and kicks missed me by inches. Summoning everything that I had left, I jumped up and began to move backward while both of them continued to attack me, ignoring the others shouts. I was exhausted I was hungry, I had just finished rebuilding downtown Angel Grove, erasing the memories of a loving daughter from a mother's mind, buried that same daughter…_I do not need this now!_ I knew that they were mad at themselves, for not preventing this from happening. They were the freaking Power Rangers and yet…..they had stood by helpless and watched a little girl get killed.

I saw an opening that I had to take; if I didn't then…..Cassie and Carlos would take all of their rage out on me and then some; Goldar wasn't here, they couldn't punish him so I was the second most obvious choice. _Lucky me._ I thought sourly as my fist shot out and caught Cassie hard in the stomach. Her eyes widen in surprise as she dropped to her knees in front of me. Carlos jumped over her, uttering a shout. I reached out a hand, grabbed his wrist spun and shoved him hard against the wall.

"Listen to me, both of you." I had grabbed Cassie also and had slammed her against the wall alongside Carlos, both of them were struggling and continued to kick and punch at me, I winced and let out grunts as they connected every now and then.

"It's a tough lesson, believe me I know, but we can't let the guilt and the grief entirely consume us, or we will be useless in battle. If we do then other innocent people will get hurt in fact they will end up like Silvy. We do not want that to happen, we pick ourselves up and we move on, we use our pain and rage and grief as our main weapons when we met up with the people that we want to punish. Both of you will get your chance to avenge Silvy." Both of them still had the fire of rage in their eyes, but I could see it beginning to cool down, I released them and allowed their feet to touch the floor, taking a step away from them I looked both of them over.

"Don't worry; you'll get your chance. If Goldar shows himself I'll let you have first crack at him….." I paused and closed my eyes briefly as the room spun. I shook my head to clear it Andros and Zhane had shocked expressions on their faces. Never in their life time have they seen such a thing, Rangers attacking each other. Steadying myself as I made my way to the door wondering if I was even going to make it to my room, it seemed so far away.

"Listen I'm going to rest, I tell you where I buried her afterward, I promise." As I stumbled down the hallway hugging the wall for support the only thing I could think about was closing my eyes and sleeping and hoping, actually wishing, that the death of that one little girl, was all just a bad dream.

Opening my eyes after getting a few good hours sleep, I stared up at the ceiling. I thought about all that had happened and began to wonder whether or not the team will be able to bounce back after this tragedy. I'm pretty sure that they are now realizing it that this all could have been prevented if they had only allowed me to erase Silvy's memory. _Then she would still be alive._ I rolled over onto my side and stared at the wall before me. _Come on Karmer, who are you kidding? Goldar would have targeted her just the same because….she was a friend of ours. Because she knew us and we cared about her. He knew that the only way to really hurt us and to cause friction in the team was to hurt someone that we all cared about but were unable to protect. _I paused in my thinking as pain rose within my chest. _Weakness. My family was my weakness and so were my sisters, and Justin. Silvy was my team mate's weakness. But even they didn't deserve the horror of watching Silvy die like that. Especially not Carlos. _Carlos and Silvy had developed a strong bond, in fact, from my observations; Silvy had regarded Carlos as something close to a big brother. I thought of Kimberly and how I would often think of her as a sister, even calling her "Sis" from time to time. _I still think of her that way_. I rolled onto my back. I felt sorry for Carlos, TJ and Cassie. _It's a hard lesson, losing someone you care about….it'll take time, but they'll move on and thy will get past the guilt and the pain. I hope._

A little while later, my rumbling stomach got me out of bed. I had washed the blood (can blood _really _be washed off?) from my hands and was heading toward the Mess Hall. Ahead of me, I saw Cassie, I started to call out to her but thinking abut it, I was pretty sure that I was probably the last person she wanted to see. She must have sensed me behind her for she turned, our eyes met for a few seconds then unexpectedly she made a gesture for me to join her. I hesitated but….she did look sincere. I limped over to her and we continued on down the hall. The moments of silence stretched between us and I began to wonder which one of us was going to break it, or even if it should be broken there was still tension in the air. It still amazed and shocked me that my team mates would actually attack me. _A while ago, when Justin had revealed to the others that I had once been an agent for evil I was so sure that all of them were going to jump me, but they never did. Could it have been because back then I was at full power and that they were afraid of me? _I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. _Heh, I'm amazed that I actually defended myself against those two._ Cassie was still looking straight ahead and at first I thought that the reason she wouldn't even glance my way was because she was ashamed for her actions earlier.

"So you really couldn't have done anything to save Silvy?" I glanced at her surprised to hear no anger in her tone. I matched her tone but kept my voice low.

"Unfortunately no, I had used up most of my power in the earlier battle with Goldar and was nearly out of power when the Psycho Rangers showed up. I had to take some of Psycho Yellow's power just to beat her. After that," I paused for a moment, as we entered the Mess Hall and I was busy pressing the buttons on **Synthetron** and figure out what I wanted to eat. Choosing a plate of spaghetti, I waited until it had materialized in front of me, grabbed it and began eating while I limped over to one of the tables and sat down. Cassie had sat down across from me and was watching as I ate. After finishing half the plate and feeling full and strengthen for the first time in hours, I lifted up my head.

"After the battle with Psycho Yellow, I was all tapped out. I could barley stand." I paused as I twirled the last of the spaghetti onto my fork and inserted it into my mouth.

"And yet, you had enough strength to turn those people back into their original forms with that machine." said Cassie in a toneless voice.

"Not an easy thing to do; I just about collapsed after I had teleported the last person back to Angel Grove."

"I'll bet." I glanced up at her tone. She folded her arms and placed them on the table and continued to look at me for a full minute, finally she opened her mouth and said.

"What I don't get is, that you had the strength to undo Astronema's work on those people, you had the strength to teleport them back to Angel Grove and you had the strength to fight off the Psycho Ranger."

"I had to dig deep down Cassie…" I started bewildered.

"You had the strength for all of these things and yet you "didn't" have the strength to save Silvy." Setting down my fork, I pushed my plate away and stared back at her.

"Just what are you accusing me of?" I asked coldly.

"I'm not accusing you of anything, except the fact that your "strength" seemed to disappear at the exact moment when Goldar showed up." I glared her angrily.

"There wasn't any way that I could take on Goldar in the state that I was in, I couldn't even break through that force field that he had me in."

"Couldn't or wouldn't?" snapped Cassie.

"What's that supposed to mean?" My fingers had found my fork and had curled themselves around it tightly.

"Here's what I think, I think that you purposely allowed Silvy to die right in front of us!" I stared her in shock.

"How can you accuse me of such a thing?" She stared back at me coldly; something close to hate was in her eyes.

"You are supposed to have this incredible power, power that has saved thousands of lives and yet….you couldn't save this one life, just like you couldn't save Justin from being tortured or your parents from getting killed!" I shot out of my chair and glared at her while tears blurred my vision.

How could she remind me now that I have failed to save another person from the forces of evil? I had made a vow that it would never happen again. _And yet it did happen. _Self loathing began to rise within me. _What good is this power if I'm not able to save the people that that I care about? What good am I?_ But I shook my head forcing myself to remember how I had saved the lives of my friends time and again, had earned their faith and trust, have began to finally fill in the shoes of Aisha, the Ranger that I had murdered. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I looked at Cassie but at the same time I was speaking to myself.

"Look, I'm only human. I have human faults. This power has limits. If I go all out then I can't do much else…." A sudden thought occurred to me.

"I'm pretty sure that was Goldar's plan all along. I would be so weaken that I wouldn't have been able to break through that force field of his and save Silvy." Cassie blinked, rendered speechless for a minute then her eyes narrowed.

"Why didn't you think of that before huh?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hey, I was busy fighting him off and trying to hold my own against the Yellow Psycho Ranger with what little energy I had left. So excuse me if my mind was a little preoccupied." I shot back.

"I thought you were supposed to know your enemy!"

"I was busy thinking about you guys and trying to figure out how to kill the Yellow Psycho Ranger; I didn't know that Goldar was going to go after Silvy!" Cassie eyes flashed fire; she walked around the table and shoved the chairs that were between us out of the way, so hard that they toppled over. I braced myself for a fight. She was in front of me.

"What about all those times where _you _told us to keep an eye on her when _you_ felt for sure that Goldar was going to attack her and didn't? What about all of those times that you made the team split up so that one part of the team dealt with one of Astronomer's monsters while the others kept an eye on Silvy and he didn't attack her then? You took all the necessary precautions back then to ensure her safety but not this time! What made this time so different? Huh?" I refused to drop my eyes and feel guilty; I was reminded of those times when I had asked dad and the others to keep an eye on mom with nothing whatsoever happening. _But then….the day of that stupid make up test…_ I looked at Cassie; I was tired of all this guilt that was on my shoulders of not being able to save people and having the strength of my powers questioned. _Even I….with my power at full strength…._ I fought back my sadness and guilt. _It was not your fault. You didn't even _think_ about Silvy, your mind was on your ungrateful teammate's lives and the people of Angel Grove's. _A sudden thought occurred to me. _What that was what Goldar was banking on? That my mind would be too distracted so that I didn't even think about Silvy? Is that why he told me of Astronema's plan and Secret City?_

I jumped that I heard Cassie call my name. Shaking my head to clear it, I started to open my mouth to tell her but closed it again. _She could never understand._ So instead all I said was,

"My mind was full of getting to you guys and the people that the monster of Astronema's had kidnapped." To my own ears that sounded lame, and apparently Cassie thought so too.

"I really wish you would stop thinking that we have to be rescued every time we get into trouble. We can handle Astromena's monster's ourselves." I gritted my teeth and struggled to control my anger.I knew that she was mad at herself for not doing more to protect Silvy, for not being able to save her, even though she had the powers of advanced technology on her side, in the end it didn't amount too much, it even couldn't stand up to Goldar's power. But I was angry as well, I was angry at Cassie for even suggesting that I had _allowed_ Goldar to kill Silvy. _If I could do it over again….If I could change things….But I can't…..not even I, with my powers at full strength, can turn back time. Not even I can bring back the dead._

A few days later we received an emergency call for help from the planet Forza, I welcomed the distraction; the atmosphere in the Astro Mega Ship was thicker than custard and Cassie and Carlos seemed bent on making me feel responsible for Silvy's death. Suiting up and taking the Astro Gliders, we went to the planet and began searching for the people that had sent the distress signal; it only took was a few moments for us to realize that something was wrong.

"I don't see anything." said TJ looking around.

"My computer's not picking up anything." I chimed in as well. _Something's not right here. Could that SOS have been a fake to lure us into a trap_? I looked around, keeping my eyes and ears open for any sign of my enemies. Suddenly our suits began to glow.

"What the?" started Andros.

"What's happening?" cried Cassie. Leaping off the Astro Gliders because the glowing interfered with our steering, we landed on the sand and watched as our suits gave a final glow then vanished all together. My heart began to pound double time; panic began to settle in the pit of my stomach though I struggled to push it away. _Oh no!_ _The Astro Mega Ship! It can't be gone! We still need it, we haven't even found dad yet! Nor have we taken out Dark Specter, Astromena or Ecliptor! What are we going to do? How are the others going to fight if one of our enemies show up? Worse yet, what if Goldar shows up?_ TJ, brought his communicator to his mouth and began to contact the Ship, I began to dread hearing the silence that was going to greet us on the other side of the call but imagine my relief when we heard A6 respond. _Oh, thank god! It's still there!_ I nearly sank to my knees in the sand but I forced myself to continue to stand upright. _If anything had happened to the Astro Mega Ship….._

"Alpha what's going on?" The reply was one that I did not want to hear, especially after all that my team mates had gone through.

"Astronema's here, she cast some sort of electric web around the Ship."

"What!" I shouted. TJ's eyes widen in surprise then he said in a determined voice.

"Fire at the web, maybe you can break free of it." A6 powered up the phasers to full and fired.

"Nothing." There was note of panic in his voice. "The web is still around us." Carlos looked toward the rest of us.

"What are we going to do? What if they can't break out of that web?"

I spoke up.

"Maybe it can be destroyed from the outside." The others turned toward me.

"There have been force fields that can be destroyed from the outside, if just enough power is applied. If I can just get to the Ship and deliver a powerful enough Power Blast to break through the web, I might be able to free it." Andros looked at me for a second, then he nodded.

"Worth a shot, will you need help?" I was about to reply when who should show up but the Quantrons and Darkonda. _Oh, it's only these guys._ I thought in relief as I preformed a back flip mixed with well aimed kick to a chin that sent the Quantron slamming into the ground._ For a minute I was sure that Goldar and his Tengu would show up, then we'd be in real trouble. _All too soon though, that was what exactly happened to my team mates. TJ was punched hard in the stomach, while a Quantron slammed down both of his fists onto TJ's back; he fell to his knees only to be kicked in the face. Cassie's feet were swept from underneath her, she fell and at the same time the blade of one Quantron came down and slashed her in the face. She yelped. Carlos took down two Quantrons but a third on leapt onto his shoulders and slammed him down face first into the sand. Andros's arms were grabbed by two Quantrons, a third began to savagely punch him in the stomach. Andros went down Darkonda leapt in front of me before I could go to their aid. I took a step back and at the same time he brought down his sword. Instinctively I reached for my own, unsheathed it and blocked his blow, shoving him away, I spun to my left, Darkonda slashed empty air on my right, growling in frustration he shot out his hand and grabbed my wrist and yanked me back. I stumbled back and fell into the sand Darkonda loomed over me.

"After Astronema has finished with you and your friends, I'm going to see what makes you tick Yellow Ranger." I smiled up at him.

"Sorry to disappoint but, no." Placing both of my hands behind me, palms on the ground, I concentrated. Darkonda grabbed me by the front of my shirt and had lifted me off several inches when he turned.

Behind him the Quantrons were all lying on the ground while my team mates were struggling to their feet. _You would think that by now, instead of attacking us with a small army of Quantrons, they would have brought the entire squadron._ Darkonda turned back to me, I grinned at him, with his other hand he raised his sword above my head; but before he could bring it down, he cried out as he was blasted back. I landed on my butt and turned the upper half of my power toward the source, already knowing who it is. _Yep, it's Zhane._ I was surprised to see him coming towards at top speed while riding… _a dune buggy?_ I stared at the vehicle for a few minutes as Darkonda, uttering a yell, began to actually charge it. The dune buggy wasn't like any I had ever seen on Earth. For one thing its head lights shot a blue energy blast at the charging Darkonda. I shrugged my shoulders as I got to my feet. The Quantrons were all blasted back by Zhane and with a quick Power Blast had already vanished. I shook my head. _Man these guys aren't even a challenge, even the Tengu Warriors put up a better fight. _Ignoring the yells issuing from Darkonda, I limped over to my team mates and helped them up. The others watched with shouts of victory as Darkonda finally took off. The others ran past me to thank Zhane and marvel over his ride. Zhane hopped out and introduced them to his "Galactic Rover"

"Great thanks Zhane." I said rather dismissively with barely a glance at the vehicle. Cassie frowned slightly. But then she began to nod along with me as I explained the situation to him, I was about to finish when A6 called again. Ecliptor was heading toward the hiding place of the Mega Vehicles, with the intent on destroying them. The others eyes widen in shock and in fear.

"How were they able to find them after all this time?" asked Carlos in a whisper. _My guess is that that since they saw how powerful it was, they've must have been searching for it for a while now; with plans to destroy it. This could tilt the balance in their favor._ I lifted up my head.

"Right." I turned to Zhane, and at the same time began to locate Ecliptor and punch in his coordinates.

"Zhane will go and take care of Ecliptor. I'll teleport you to the location of the Mega Vehicles myself, for all we know, he could already be there." Zhane nodded.

"But what about the Astro Mega Ship?" asked Cassie with a worried look on her face. Andros chimed in saying that by using his battle armor and the weaponry it contained it should be enough to destroy the web that surrounded the Ship.

"I'll come with you Andros, Astronema might be there herself."

"Thanks Amy." I only nodded and turning to Zhane; wished him luck and teleported him away. Andros pressed two buttons on the side of his Astro Morpher and his suit came flashing on. _Yech, does it have to look painful?_ I thought to myself as I watched. The new armor made him look buffer and had wings in the back plus on the sides it had phasers. It may have looked powerful and cool compared to his regular suit but…_does he really have to yell whenever he puts it on?_ Andros noticed that I was staring at him with a weird expression on my face.

"What?"

"Andros, don't take this the wrong way, but…..if I had to choose, I would rather keep my powers than acquire a suit like that." He stared at me for a few moments while the others were giving me weird looks.

"Whatever. Let's go!" Firing up a rocket that was underneath his wings he took off into the sky. I turned back to the others.

"We'll keep you posted." Was all I said before following Andros.

We arrived at the location of the Astro Mega Ship and to my great surprise, it was quite alone. I looked around; half expecting to see Astronema's ship and an entire army ready and waiting for us, but there wasn't anybody. _Either she's super confident, that destroying the Mega Vehicles will weaken us greatly and make us easier to kill(yeah right) or she thinks that we won't be able to break through that web of hers and give up, that girl seriously needs a head check. _Still the fact that she found the location of both the Astro Mega Ship and the Mega Vehicles disturbed me greatly. If she could find out where those two things were and send one of her henchmen to destroy than that could only mean one thing: _She's done fooling around._ I swallowed hard. My mind suddenly filled with my friends and the people of Angel Grove. _I hope that when the time comes I have the strength and power to protect them. _I turned to Andros, he turned toward me. The web glowed brightly and to my initial surprise wasn't really doing anything to the Ship. No power was being drained nor was it damaging the Ship in any way.

"Andros, this thing doesn't show any weak points, we're gonna have to fire on two sides of it to get it off the Ship." I said. He nodded.

"Okay, you take the left side, I'll take the right." Taking off in two different directions until we came floating on opposite sides of the Ship, I told Andros that we should fire at the same time with everything that we've got. I also kept a sharp lookout for Goldar and the Tengu Warriors. _Hey, you never know._

"Right Amy."

"Okay. One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" I pulled out my sword, powered it up and flung it as hard as I could toward the Ship, controlling my sword while it bounced off and around the web, sending up sparks and causing the entire thing to wobble weirdly, I sent Power Blast after Power Blast into my sword and on the web. On the other side, I could hear explosions (_huh, look at that sound does carry in space)_ which signified that Andros was doing his part. Pulling back my hands, with the heels of my palms touching I formed a ball of energy, that kept on growing as I kept adding to it. _Mustn't add too much, trouble for all we know could be just around the corner._ As soon as my Power Blast was roughly the same size as my body, I fired, on the other side Andros fired his own weapons, there was a crackle and a boom and the web disintegrated in front of our eyes, freeing the Astro Mega Ship.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I contacted the others and told them what had happened. Teleporting all of them to the bridge Andros and I joined them, we were about to check the ship from top to bottom when a distress signal from Zhane came through. Morphing and flying to Angel Grove, we all received a bit of a shock to see Ecliptor completely changed. He looked like he was covered in some sort of red body suit which unfortunately made him stronger and faster than all of us. Not to mention he was already twenty four feet tall, Zhane's Mega Winger looked pretty damaged once we arrived, along with the Delta Mega Zord, at the Jovian moon base where the Mega Vehicles were kept. Even with all three Zords, Ecliptor proved more than a match for us. After launching several fireballs at us and at the other two Zords, I began to have a sense of how powerful Ecliptor had become. _How did he get so freaking powerful, he could easily be a match for Goldar. _My computer began beeping. _Oh no! Not now!_ I scanned the area for Goldar, but the scanner wasn't picking him up, _he could be anywhere!_ Fireball after fire ball shot towards us, coming from Ecliptor's sword. Worse yet, another set of fireballs came raining down on us from all sides; we had no idea where they were coming from.

We watched in horror as the Delta Mega Zord was slammed once, twice, three times….its arms appeared to go slack, then it fell onto to the ground.

"I can't believe it! The Delta Mega Zord!" cried TJ. Glancing at my computer, it gave me the schematics of the Delta Mega Zord. It was heavily damaged and wouldn't be able to take any more attacks.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed Cassie. I turned my head and saw several fireballs coming in from the left and right, they were heading straight for us!

"SHIELD!" I shouted throwing one up two of them bounced off and I managed to send them straight back at Ecliptor, he dodged them of course and sent another one toward the Mega Winger!

"Zhane! Get out of there!" shouted Andros. Before I could aid Zhane though, I was shoved back into my chair. _What the? _I looked around but couldn't see anything I was aware of Zhane screaming and yelling and of the others shouting as they watched Zhane's Mega Winger go down. Andros leapt out of his chair to go to his friend's aid.

"Zhane! Hang on! I'm coming!" I started to call out to Andros, when my computer beeped again. We all screamed as a shot of electricity came out of nowhere and engulfed both the outside and the inside of the Mega Ship! My mind seemed to be filling up with a bright yellow light and I was somehow, transported to the engine room of the Astro Mega Ship. _Goldar!_ He was inside!

"EVERYONE GET OUT! HURRY! HE'S HERE!" I heard myself scream. I started to follow the others as they leapt out of their chairs but once again I was slammed back into my chair.

"Amy! What's wrong?" asked Cassie, she grabbed my shoulder but then leapt back as I began to jerk and twist in my seat. Jerking my head toward her I let out a grunt and rasped.

"Get out." Letting out a yell and sending a wave of power that sent Cassie hurtling out of the Ship and Ecliptor reeling, I flopped back into the chair. Panting and swallowing hard I lurched forward and saw that Ecliptor was on the ground reverted back to his normal size. The others were on the ground also. I sat back for a minute, catching my breath and letting the others deal with Ecliptor. _You can do it you guys, he's pretty weak now. _I closed my eyes briefly and somehow saw, my teammates attacking Ecliptor. Even though he put up a pretty good fight, he wasn't any match for their teamwork; Ecliptor's color returned back to green, and even though he vowed vengeance against them, he took off. I smiled, _looks like Tommy and the others chose right after all._

A while later we traveled back to the Jovian planet and confronted the damage that Ecliptor had inflicted, the hanger where the Vehicles' were kept had collapsed. There was a gigantic hole in the ceiling and parts of the walls and beams littered the ground, the vehicles themselves looked undamaged amazingly enough…..but they had the air of having lost the will to fight and looked like shells of their former selves, empty and lifeless. The victory that my team mates had won suddenly seemed hollow in comparison. Everyone stared around with shocked looks on their faces and I was reminded of the day when the Command Center was destroyed, my friends and I had always thought that Lord Zedd would never find it, not in a million years…._and yet….he did find it._ The expressions on my team mates faces matched those of my friends' faces as we had gone through the debris that had once been the home of Zordon and Alpha Five and the headquarters of the Power Rangers. _We still don't know how he found it. _None of us had ever asked that question, I guess….I guess…..we were afraid of finding out the answer. Zhane had approached a console and his eyes widened in amazement.

"Hey, the main systems! Their still online, we can still fix up the Mega Vehicles." I turned to him and smiled sadly, I gazed around at the broken hanger and Zords. It would take too much time to get them fixed and at this rate, at the extent of damage that Ecliptor had done, I began to wonder if we were even going to win this war.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

"So much as gone wrong mom, first Silvy is killed then the Delta Mega Zord is almost destroyed, it is barley holding together as it is, then the Mega Vehicles are nearly destroyed as well. I just think….that all of this…..is a sign. A sign that is saying "We will lose in the end"." I stopped for a moment and stared at my mother's head stone. I was at the cemetery; It had been a while since I've been there and talked to my Earth parents; I had always gone here to seek comfort from the both of them and solace and to think things through, and find solutions to my problems. But for the first time; I didn't feel any comfort nor did I feel the weight of everything that I've been through and experience lifted from my shoulders, instead I only felt the weight grow more heavier, my fear becoming more profound, and of my many problems….no solutions whatsoever came into my mind.

The realization that we could actually lose…everything that we love and cherish…to the evil forces…after keeping them at bay for so long…..it-it would be too much to bear. _I—I wouldn't be able to stand it if they won, I wouldn't be able to live_. My mind screeched to a halt, I was horrified and disgusted at myself. _Me? Amy Karmer? Not being able to live with evil, if they had finally won this war? When I had lived with evil, actually let it inside of me for months before I turned my back on it and became a Power Ranger? Hadn't I spent half of my life defending the people that I love and the planet that I had called my home against those forces time and time again? Haven't I saved the people of Angel Grove from being killed in the cross fires of all of the battles that have been fought in the very streets of Angel Grove. I will continue to protect them, even if all of my powers and energy has been spent._

As we didn't have enough to deal with, Astronema sends down a monster to hunt us down one by one, even worse Goldar and his Tengu Warriors decide to join in the fray. It all started a couple of nights ago; I was busy making repairs to the Delta Mega Zord. Taking out the dents and rerouting the wires that gave us control of the arms and legs, I was about to start working on the weapons themselves. Even though I had tried to reassure them that the Zords would be repaired in time for the next attack, I don't think they believed me. Pushing away my own doubts about how fast I would be able to make the repairs, ignoring the severity of the damage that Ecliptor had inflicted on the Zords and wishing that the Command Center or the Power Chamber were still around; even wishing that Billy and Tentomon were here to help me out, picking up the wrench and blowing a strand of hair away from my face, I continuing working out the problems that the control systems had.

Cassie came running into the hanger, fear and shock in her eyes. I stood up and went toward her.

"What happened?" My first thought was that something had happened to Dad, Dark Specter had finally managed to drain all of his energy and power and now they had found his body. Broken and empty of all life. I squeezed Cassie's shoulders hard, not wanting to hear that, because I wasn't sure that I would be able to take it.

"Andros and I were attacked." said Cassie, while trying to pry my fingers from her shoulders. My hands went slack; I stared at her for a few minutes. It took a few moments to register her words so that I was staring at her stupidly. As soon as my mind processed the fact that it was only about a monster and not about Dad's lifeless body being found in some remote and desolate wasteland of a planet; I took a step back and leaned against the work table that had the tools that I had been using to make the repairs. One hand went to my forehead and I bowed my head, Cassie took a step toward me; then she stopped when I lifted up my head, she saw me blink back tears.

"Amy? Did you hear me?" I shook my head. _He's still alive! There's still hope! _ A little voice in the back of my mind whispered: _But for how long?_ I silenced that voice with almost frantic severity. I kept holding on to the hope that we were going to save my father, he was still hanging in there, he was still resisting. The fact that these thoughts that were going through my mind, it made Cassie's news…irrelevant. I lowered my head and looked at her. Seeing that she had an irritated look on her face about the lack of emotion that I was displaying at her news, I struggled to focus and concentrate on the situation.

"Oh, um….the attack….yeah….did…did you get a look at the attacker? What did he look like?" She glared at me and said rather sarcastically.

"Are you sure you want to hear? It seems as if you have other things on your mind, my news may not seem as important as what you were thinking just a few seconds ago."

"Cassie…." I said in a weary voice.

"You know what? Forget it! It's obvious that the monster that attacked Andros and I is nothing compared to what the "The great and powerful daughter of Zordon is thinking about!" She snapped, then turning she flounced away. I turned back to the Delta Mega Zord and continued with the repairs. I let out a sigh as I stood up and let the wrench fall from my hand, I knew that it was vital to learn about the various monsters that Astronema would send down to attack us and it was also vital to protect my team mates; but with everything that has happened and my worries and nightmares that concern finding dad a broken shell of his former self and me being re enslaved, it was a wonder that I was able to take in Cassie's news at all. To me, it seemed as if Dad had been pushed to the back of everyone's mind. I was also beginning to believe that our mission was slowly changing from trying to find my father to surviving each and every attack that besieged us. It seemed silly…but that was the way it seemed right now, I had to think of a way to return everyone's thoughts back toward rescuing dad but before I could do that, I had to go and find Cassie and apologize for being inconsiderate. _She did look pretty upset._ I thought as I teleported to the Astro Mega ship and located her in the Mess Hall, everyone looked up as I entered, Cassie glared at me. I approached her.

"Cassie….I'm sorry that I wasn't paying attention the first time, I've had a lot of things on my mind at the moment, like the fact that we seem to be forgetting our original mission." I glanced at Andros who was giving me a _Why would you think that_ look, I turned toward him and answered.

"I guess it's because all we have been doing so far is survive attacks from Astronema and Goldar and not getting anywhere in locating dad that….I was afraid that….that was all we were doing…and that dad had been pushed to the back of everyone's minds." There was silence for a few moments, Carlos spoke up.

"Amy, finding Zordon is our first priority, we've just been side tracked with all of these attacks, but that doesn't mean that he's been pushed to one side. We are still focused on finding him."

"And we will find him, as soon as we've dealt with this new monster of Astronema, we will put all of our energy into finding Zordon, I promise." chimed in Andros. TJ and Cassie both nodded.

"Thank you everyone." I wanted to tell them that I was getting tired. Tired of all of these battles, of all the fighting. I guess it showed on my face because the others were giving me looks of sympathy.

I cleared my throat and straighten up; becoming business-like.

"So, Cassie, about this monster that attacked you and Andros, did you get a good look at him? What was it's weapons?" She gave me a full blown detail about what had gone on during Andros and Cassie's date. When she had finished, I looked at both of them in surprise, it sounded as if, upon first meeting, the monster just wanted to alert Cassie and Andros of its presence and cause them to start fearing it. Otherwise they would have been captured by now. I told them about my theory and they looked at me, Andros seemed to nod, a thoughtful look on his face.

"When it shows itself next time, it'll do more than scare us." He said in a grim voice.

"Yeah so the next time anyone goes down to Earth, stay on high alert and be careful." I told them.

"Do you think Goldar will show himself?" asked Carlos. I looked at him, he was still grieving for Silvy and I knew that he was blaming himself for what had happened.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Goldar's done fooling around at this point. He's more than likely to show up." Carlos stared straight ahead of him for a moment.

"Good. I hope I run into him first." I was worried for a second, Goldar was pretty powerful even with out the additional power that he had stolen from me; still Carlos wasn't stupid; he would call for back up when he needed it. Although I was pretty sure that even Goldar would have his hands full with Carlos. He had killed Silvy a good friend of Carlos's. There is no way that Carlos is going to take that laying down.

.A day later though Cassie and TJ reported that Carlos(who had been playing soccer with a couple of people in the park) had gone chasing after a soccer ball that had gone astray and didn't return. When they went to go looking for him, Carlos had simply vanished. They couldn't find him anywhere. They had been about to perform a second sweep when the monster appeared out of nowhere and attacked them. TJ had started to call for help but his transmission was abruptly cut off; which meant that they must have been captured. Andros and I ventured down to the park where the distress call originated. Both of us looked around on the alert for anything. I found myself considering it extremely lucky that no innocent civilians had ever gotten into the cross fire of our battles and made a start when I realized that the only time _any _civilians had ever been caught in the middle was when Astronema had used that monster to transport everyone to the Secret City and used that machines to turned into Key Cards. _Other than that, the people of Angel Grove have been mostly left alone, I mean not even Goldar….._

"Look out!" Andros's shout snapped me out of my thoughts as the monster appeared out of thin air; barreling towards us. Rolling into opposite directions to save ourselves from being run over, the monster darted past us. With its tires squealing it made a wide U turn and stopped for a minute revving its engine. Andros and I had gotten to our feet and got a good look at the monster. _It was a freaking tank_! Taking out my computer, I stood stock still as the monster came barreling toward me. Andros had already leapt out of the way.

"Amy! Get out of the way!" shouted Andros. My computer was busy scanning the monster…._almost done….. _The monster was feet from me and coming fast when the scan was finally complete. Morphing into liquid, I slipped underneath it as the monster roared over me, the sound of its engine make my head hurt and my ears ring. I materialized and turned toward the monster again; it had stooped and seemed to be studying me. Andros ran toward me.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, just needed a bit of time to scan the thing." Andros looked at my computer in surprise. He looked over my shoulder while keeping a wary eye on the monster, which kept revving its engine. _Why isn't it attacking?_

"I got it!" Andros looked down at the little screen and saw that the monster was called Tankenstein; it was shape shifter and also pretty powerful. _Look of the power level of that thing!_ I thought. It came to me as nothing short then amazing that my friends and I hadn't dealt with this monster ourselves. _If this were the early days of my Ranger hood, I would be scared stiff._ _I don't see any weakness, in fact I've got a feeling that half the power that this guy had got have may possibly come from Goldar himself. There is absolutely no way that a monster can have that much power, not by itself anyway._ Andros's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"What's it doing? It's just sitting there." He said in a whisper. I glanced up, indeed the monster was just sitting there, what it was waiting for I wasn't sure, but it gave me enough time to figure out how it had managed to make my team mates disappear. There was some kind of laser on top of its hood that acted as some kind of teleporter; excited I began to type rapidly, forgetting for a moment that the monster was feet away. Andros was looking over my shoulder again and reading what was on the screen.

"It can teleport someone to a different place?" he asked in surprise. I glanced at him and nodded.

"Just thank your lucky stars that it's not to some other dimension." I muttered.

"Do you know where?" Andros glanced upward and saw Tankenstein flash its lights at him and revved up, he had a sneaking suspicion that the monster was listening to our conversation and was laughing at us. To his dismay, I shook my head.

"My computer just says that that teleporter on top of its hood teleported them to a desert, but whether here or on some planet it doesn't actually say." _I bet my bottom dollar this thing's teleported Cassie and the others to a distant planet._ Thought Andros angrily.

"To rescue them, we're going to have to be teleported as well." An irritated look came on his face; I could tell that Andros wanted to go one on one with this thing. I looked around. Goldar was no where to be seen, but I was pretty sure that he was going to show himself. _At the last possible minute, most likely._ I turned to Andros and was about to say something when we both heard the screeching of tires_. _Tankenstein, with smoke coming from its back tires as it burned rubber, began to charge us. Andros leapt out of the way, I was about to follow when two Tengus leapt out from a nearby tree, grabbed me and gave me a ruthless shove straight into the path of the monster.

I was slammed onto the front bumper of the car and went along for the ride as the tank shot forward. I heard Andros call my name and for an instant could see him running after the tank and I, only to stop dead in his tracks, I saw him look down at his feet then a split second later, a group of Tengu descended on him. I struggled to release myself from the tank's front bumper but Goldar came into my line of vision, he was flying over us, laughing like a king, then he folded back his wings, for a second I thought that he was going to perform a dive bomb. But instead he landed on top of the tank; took out his staff and slammed one end of it down onto the roof, sending about a thousand volts of electricity from his staff through the car and directly into me! Screaming, I struggled to break the contact between the three of us. It stopped for a split second, but when I looked up, Goldar was on the hood facing me. Pointing both his left hand and the _Z_ of the staff at my face, I was blasted backward.

Rolling to a stop, I staggered to my feet panting. I turned my head, even though my head was spinning, I saw the reason why Andros couldn't move at all, his feet had somehow become glued to the street and he was struggling to free himself. Moving toward him on shaky legs, I was too late to save him when the ground exploded underneath his feet, sending him skyward!

"Andros!" I shouted as he slammed into the ground about 30 feet from where he had stood. Goldar appeared before me.

"Worry about your self!" he shouted as he extended out a hand toward me, I managed to dodge the blast that he fired. Spinning and twisting on my left foot to dodge the blasts that he was firing. I extended out my arm and tried to blast him back, but he met my blast with one of his own. The two blasts, at such close range of each other but both powerful, shoved the both of us back a few feet. I decided that it would be best if we took this fight to the skies and apparently so did Goldar. Flapping his wings, he was airborne, I levitated myself and soon we were facing each other and exchanging blows. Andros, the Tengu Warriors and the monster momentarily forgotten, as Goldar and I lit up the sky with our furious power and energy blasts. We made the very air echo with our battle cries and sounds of fists hitting bodies; armor colliding with steel. Anyone looking into the very air would see two streaks of color, one yellow and one black streaking in opposite directions, only to dart toward one another, pass each other, double back and slam into each other and sky rocket upward.

Finally with a well timed kick to the chin, I was knocked back a few feet, I ducked as Goldar's foot missed me by inches, lowering myself so that I was underneath him, I shot upward. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I took him with me as we continued to fly upward. I had his arms pinned to his side, so that there was no way, that he could blast me off, oh how wrong I was. Somehow Goldar managed to turn the palms of his hands downward toward me, so that I received a chest and face full of power, unable to duck or put up a force field to protect myself, I was thrown downward. Struggling to clear my head, I didn't notice that Goldar was on top of me until too late. Slamming his entire body forward onto me and driving and elbow into my face, I rocketed toward the ground with a loud___Boom! _Lying there in the middle of the crater that had been created due to the impact; I heard what sounded like a missile coming toward me. Struggling to focus, I looked up in time to see Goldar streak toward me, like black lighting. Noticing that the crater had a few jagged pieces of the asphalt, I concentrated, levitated them and shot them toward Goldar. He ducked each and every one of them by swerving and twisting in the air, his gaze was locked on me, what he didn't notice however, was the fact that the pieces of asphalt had hung in midair above Goldar for a split second, then shot down toward him. Letting out a shout that was a mixture of pain and fury, he managed to duck from underneath the barrage and hovered in mid air for a second. He noticed that I had levitated to his level bloody and bruised, with more pieces of asphalt circling me as though I were a galaxy.

"Still alive? Why can't you ever stay dead?" he roared as he raised both hands in my direction and shot a couple of energy blasts. Performing a somersault in mid air and calling up the last of my strength and power, I sent the pieces of asphalt shooting toward him, once again he managed to dodge them, but he couldn't dodge them a second time since, I had split them up into two groups to attack him both from below and above. He gave out a yell as the attack struck home. I watched with satisfaction as black dust filled the air thinking that he had taken off. Lowering myself down a few feet, I saw to my surprise and concern that Andros and the monster were no longer around. Panic shot through me. Had both been destroyed in the fire fight? No, that's impossible I would never hurt a team mate with my powers. Where were they?

"Andros! Where are you?" I shouted looking around but I couldn't see them, nor could I see any evidence that they had been destroyed by any stray blasts; before a flash of relief could even begin to start go through me however; I felt something wrap itself around my left wrist. Looking down, it looked as if it were a long piece of black rope, before I could register surprise or to begin to figure out where it came from, another rope shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around my other wrist, then another wrapped itself around my left ankle, then another wrapped itself around my right ankle. I couldn't move.

"What the? What is this?" I shouted, I started to struggle but then froze momentarily when I saw something streak toward me. I stared stupidly, wondering what it was. As it reached me I realized too late that it was electricity! As it slammed into me, I sensed to my horror that an energy blast was coming right toward me, struggling frantically even though it was useless, both the electricity and the blast reached me at the same time! Screaming my lungs out, I began to beg and pray that this pain, this incredible pain would only last for a second, just one measly second, even though that one second seemed like eternity. But no! The pain, the electricity and the energy just kept on coming and coming, without pause, slamming me again and again. After what seemed like several agonizing days, but must have been like several minutes, they stopped. My head fell forward and I felt my entire body go limp. I felt rather than saw Goldar glide toward me, he lifted up my chin.

"You should give up now, it's over this battle. This entire war has already been decided. Your team mates are dead, they've been sent to another dimension where even you can't reach them. I will spare you, if and only if, you swear allegiance to me and rule by my side." He spoke with such confidence and with such certainty that for a split second I almost believed him. But I shook my head silently. _No, they are alive, I know they are. _As for swearing my allegiance to him…..

"Never." I rasped. "I'd rather die than join you." He looked at me for a minute.

"I was hoping not to do this, I really do like your warrior spirit, but since you won't join me in your 'normal state'…." He raised the staff over my head and red dust sprinkled down onto my head. I twisted my head from side to side.

"No." I moaned. I struggled to fight off the spell that was slowly taking over my mind, I thought of my friends, my father, everyone that I cared about and loved. Hoping to beat back the spell if I only focused on the good things in my life. But no! It was slowly fading! I concentrated extremely hard on the faces of those that I loved but already…..I was forgetting, the spell was taking over!

Evil thoughts like death and destruction began to creep into my head. _No! I'm not that person! I'm not that person anymore!_ To my horror, I was slowly forgetting who I was and what I was fighting for! _My name is Amy Karmer, I'm 18 years old, I am the Yellow Power Ranger, I am half alien, half human. I was born with powers that help and protect man kind, my father is Zordon of Eltar, mentor and creator of the Power Rangers. My name is Amy…._ Suddenly all too soon, my mind became a blank then: _I have no name, I am nothing. I live to serve Goldar and his forces._ _I live for only Goldar, I will rule by his side, just as I was meant to. _

"NO!" I screamed, and for a split second I was myself again, but the spell….it was too strong, already my resolve was wavering, I was losing! I lifted up my head and at the same time the rope that had been around my limbs were withdrawing, Goldar saw a cold and cruel smile come on my face, he lowered the staff and extended out his hand toward me.

"My master." I murmured, I was about to take his hand when….

"Electric Saber!" A man appeared between Goldar and I, sword flashing he separated us, both of us leapt back.

"Hands off!" barked the man, then he turned toward me and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Amy! Are you alright? I'm sorry that you had to…." Suddenly he let out a groan as he was blasted back by me! He fell to the ground, shaking his head and getting to his knees, he looked up. Only to see me land in front of him and with my legs glowing with power; I gave him a swift and brutal kick that sent him flying! Rolling to a stop he stared at me, bewildered as I walked toward him while Goldar laughed.

"She's mine now Masked Rider, there is nothing that you can do to break her out of the spell. They will be talking about this for years; the unbeatable Masked Rider killed by the woman that he loves." He laughed again. Angered Dex charged toward Goldar, but before he could even reach him, I appeared in front of him. Dex stopped and stared at me.

"Amy…." But my hand had shot out and grabbed his throat, and I lifted him off the ground. Dex clawed at my hand, struggling to breath, he stared into my eyes. _There were nothing but black pools of hatred and evil. _Pulling back my arm, I flung him away; Dex rolled to a stop then looked up as I began to walk toward him. _I've got to snapp her out of it, but how? And without hurting her?_ But his mind couldn't come up with a solution and he wasn't able to lift up a hand as my fist flew toward him, sending him flying backward. With a combination of my super speed and some high powered kicks and punches; Masked Rider was reduced to nothing more than a punching bag. Dex mind raced, trying to think of a solution, but nothing came to him and a feeling of cold horror went through him as he realized that maybe, he would _have_ to kill me in order to save me. Taking a deep breath and picking himself off the ground he closed his eyes and concentrated, his suit vanished and Dex Stewart stood before me. I stopped and stared at him for a moment, blinking in confusion. Dex thought that maybe he could reach me as himself and not as the Masked Rider. We both stared at each other for a few moments.

"Amy! It's me! Try to remember! The love that we have for each other! Fight the spell!" he pleaded, I stood there for a moment, but I kept on walking toward him with that cold look still on my face. Goldar laughed again as I began to pummel Dex, who couldn't raise a hand to defend himself. He collapsed onto the ground; his handsome face a bloody mess.

"It's no use, nothing you can say or do can reach her." Dex looked up at me as I raised my hand and pointed at him, he closed his eyes. _I can never fight the woman that I love._ Memories flashed into his mind of our happiness and pain filled him. _I finally found it after so long and it's going to be taken away from me?_ His eyes shot open, and they were filled with rage. _No! I will not let something that I have been denied for so long be taken from me._ Without even thinking, Dex leapt up, somehow dodged the Blast and punched me hard in the face. The punch sent me flying backwards, skidding for a few minutes on the asphalt; I came to a stop. Dex glared at me, then he saw something lying just feet from me, it was my sword. _Must have fallen in battle._ For a split second Dex thought that I would spot the sword and pick it up, but I completely ignored it as I clambered to my feet. Seemingly on a whim, Dex raced toward the sword, flipped over me, rolled and as he passed the sword, picked it up. He raised it to deflect a Blast that I sent toward him, it rebound off the sword and ricochet back toward me! As it slammed into me, Dex heard me give out a shriek of pain. Surprised he looked up, only to see me on one knee, clutching my wrist. _What happened? _He thought stupidly. Then he looked down at the sword. He remembered what I had said to him long ago.

"This sword as been used for generations on Eltar to protect the people that the wielder has loved and now, I use it as well in the same way. To protect the planet and its people." I turned toward him. "And the man that I love." He looked at it for a moment, _could this sword be the key to getting the woman that I love back?_ Dex suddenly looked up, I was charging, I jumped into the air and fired, Dex raised the sword once again. Again the attack was deflected and rebounded back toward me, once again I shouted in pain. But to his amazement, when he looked into my eyes, he saw that little by little they were returning to normal. He bit his lower lip, then shut his eyes tightly. _Please forgive me._

"Ecto Phase Activate! Masked Rider!" he flew toward me, I slashed at the air, he ducked and slashed at me, hitting his mark, causing me to shout in pain. He struck me again and again, executing all the fighting skills that he had ever been taught, struggling to block out my yells of agony, which ripped though him every time. He wasn't sure whether he hated himself or Goldar. Finally with one last slash to my stomach, I collapsed onto my side. Dex reverted back to his civilian form and threw down my sword, disgusted with himself; he glared at Goldar who glared back at him, but before either of them could move….

"Dex?" he looked down surprise. Happiness and relief going through him as he looked into my eyes, they no longer held hatred but love for the boy that was standing over me, which meant that the spell was broken! Dex dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face as he lifted the upper half of my body up and hugged me tightly.

"Amy! Oh thank god! Thank god!"

"Dex! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry…I couldn't stop myself." I sobbed, I clutched at the back of his jacket. Both of us were sobbing and begging forgiveness for what we had done to each other.

"How touching." We heard Goldar sneer, both of us turned, we had momentarily forgotten about him and the Tengu Warriors. He began to glow with power and anger.

"If this is how it's going to be then you will die alongside your boy prince!" Letting out a yell, he unleashed his power, it shot straight towards us.

"Dex!" I screamed, I shoved him out of harm's way. He rolled to a stop then leapt to his feet thinking that he could get to me in time; but the blast had already reached its target.

"Amy!" he ran toward the smoke caused by the impact.

"Amy? Amy!" he shouted. He began to fear the worst even though he tried not to believe it. _I just saved her! I just saved her! I can't lose her! I just can't!_ A few feet in front of him he noticed a light. Stumbling toward it, he stopped when he saw me; I was on my knees with my sword in front of me. My sword, he saw, was glowing; it contained the energy of the blast that Goldar had fired. My head was bowed, slowly I lifted it and glared at Goldar, the smoke had already cleared; Goldar and the Tengu were all staring at me as I slowly got to my feet.

"I've had it with you. All of you. Taking pleasure in hurting those I love. But what you've done just now, " I was shaking with anger and rage. "was unforgivable, it was one of the worst things that you have ever forced me to do." My entire body glowed but the color of my power changed from a bright yellow to a darker color. Goldar and the Tengu Warriors all saw this and took a step back; Dex also took a step back. _Incredible._

Tossing back my head and letting out my rage; power shot upward and down toward Goldar and the Tengu Warriors. The Tengu all screamed and tried to run but they were caught by the blast and flung high into the air. Goldar threw up a shield but even that didn't help him and, like his Tengu Warriors, he was blown sky high.

I dropped to my knees exhausted, my sword falling from my hand. Dex stood back for a while watching me for a few moments, then shaking himself he ran toward me and helped me up. I turned my head and looked at him as he smiled at me. Suddenly my expression of bliss turned to horror.

"Dex! Andros and the others! The monster has them; we have to go look for them." I started forward only to drop to one knee. Dex helped me up and supported me as I struggled onward.

"I know where they are, I'll take you to them." He said in a grim voice.

High on top of a mountain over looking Angel Grove, Goldar and the Tengu Warriors; has all had watched the last remaining moments of the battle between the Astro Mega Zord and Tankenstein. He had watched as the monster had blown itself up and taken the Mega Zord with it. Right now, he knew that the rookies were probably shocked to the core, to have not only lost a battle but to have their second most powerful Mega Zord destroyed right in front of them. He pictured Dex and I arriving on the scene and staring in mute silence at the destruction that was in front of us. Only then, would it dawn on us. On all of us that…..we would lose everything, this war, the planet, our freedom and our lives. _And with Amy using most of her power in that last attack, Angel Grove is as good as mine._

"All according to plan." He chuckled. "All according to plan."


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The others were in as much shock as I was. Shaking my head from side to side as if I were shaking away the shock and the growing panic that was inside me. The despair that that also raising up was a little harder though, and it took fierce concentration and a mantra of _As long as my father is still alive, there is still a chance._ I repeated those words in my mind over and over again, even though a part of me thought that this was surely the end. In anger and disgust I mentally gave myself a slap across the face. _Just because the Mega Zord is down, does not mean that the entire war is won. Get serious Karmer! You still have your powers, hell you still have the old Zords, they're still around, you can still use them_. _Now is not the time to turn into a despairing bowl of jelly, you still have work to do. _I straightened myself up and looked at my comrades.

"Right." I muttered refusing to give into despair.

"A-6, begin the repairs on the Astro Mega Ship. Andros, Cassie and TJ help him out. Carlos and I will continue with the repairs on the Mega Vehicles." I turned to Dex.

"Thank you for your help Masked Rider, we'll take over from here." I gave him a small smile Dex seemed hesitated to leave me so soon.

"Are you sure?" he asked with a note of surprise in his voice at being told to go home already, he took a small step toward the others.

"I could stay and help with any repairs that you might have to do." I gave Dex a long look, a part of me wanted him to stay if only to keep the feelings of despair and hopelessness away, but another part of me knew that Count Dregon would see this as a perfect opportunity to attack Leawood. With some regret, I shook my head and placed both hands of his shoulders.

"I'm sorry but you can't stay, I wish you would though, but you have your own city to protect." I felt his shoulders stiffen underneath my hands and I knew that he was getting ready to argue with me. But I cut him off quickly.

"Please Masked Rider. I know it's hard but you have to go back and make sure that Leawood is safe and free from Count Dregon's rule. I'll call you if anything goes down, I promise." Dex was silent, then his shoulders sagged as he said in a low voice.

"Okay, Ames. I don't like it but I'll go. You be careful okay, please. I mean it Amy. I've this horrible feeling that…." Gently I placed one hand on his mouth.

"Shh, trust me Prince. I will be careful; don't worry so much about me. I'm a big girl I can drive my own Zord and everything." He put his arms around me and hugged me tightly. For as while we just stood there. Then after a brief kiss he departed. Before he fully departed he stopped and turned back to me and in that moment when our eyes locked onto each others, we asked forgiveness for what we had been forced to do to each other. As he turned away, my body began to shake with sobs, we had forgiven each other but the hidden nightmare that the both of us had experienced, that the both of us had always feared on top of every thing else: that the Dark Forces would find a way to hurt us deeply by finding a way for the both of us to hurt each other. It was a terrible thing that Goldar had finally succeeded. Even though our scars would fade and bruises would heal, the memory would still be there….but that too would fade and it would fully fade when the both of us would make Goldar pay.

I turned back to my team mates and tried to rally them.

"Let's go you guys, we've got a lot of work ahead of us and we have to start looking for dad. Buck up all of you." Cassie turned her head and stared at me with wide eyes as if she couldn't believe that I wasn't at all shocked to the core like they were at the lost of the Astro Mega Zord.

"This war, this battle is far from over. We can still win this. So the Astro Mega Zord is destroyed, there are other ways to fight off the armies of evil. We just have to have faith in our powers and in ourselves." I was trying to draw strength by picturing Tommy in my head, he was known for making speeches that, in our darkest hour, would rally all of us and give us all the hope that we could win any battle and any challenge if we just have faith in ourselves and in each other. But looking at my team mates faces, I saw that I was going to have to try a little harder. I racked my brains, trying to find the right words.

"We can't give up, _I _won't give up. Too many people are depending on me right now, and I'm not about to start letting them down. Not now and not ever. We have to continue fighting, not just for Angel Grove not just for our planet but for our futures of each and every person that we care about and love that is living in Angel Grove and Earth. What kind of a future would they have if we gave up now? Huh? Do you want to be the ones to deny them a future just because we lost two of our Mega Zords? To me, that's no big deal. All _I need, _all that I have ever needed to fight Goldar and his Tengu Warriors is my sword my powers and my faith in myself and that the power that my friends and father gave me that will see me through this until the very end."

"Come on you guys. We've made it this far, we can't give up now. If we do then Dark Specter will have already won." The shock was slowly fading from their eyes to be replaced by determination. Anger suddenly crossed Carlos's face and he got to his feet, he walked toward me then stopped. We both stared at each other then he turned back to the others.

"Amy's right. This is no time to give up, not after everything we've been through, everything that we've done. I say we continue fighting, and if I meet up with Goldar, I'll be happy to take him down for what he's done to Silvy. Even though she's gone, if I give up now, I'll feel as if I'm letting her down all over again. I'm not going to allow that, not now not ever." He looked around at the others, and I saw that his words seemed to reach them for they stood up tall. I nodded to myself; _the thirst for revenge is usually the best medicine to get anyone out a funk._

Making the repairs to the Astro Mega Ship took very little time, A-6 and DECA helped with the repairs and soon the Ship was back, online and ready to go. But before we could even began repair work on the Mega Vehicles or starting, once again, looking for dad. We received a call from Zhane, it was an SOS! Arriving at his location, we saw that there were a small barrage of fighter pilots on his tail, trying to blast him off of his Glider. With a few well aimed shots we saved him and he boarded the Ship, it took us all awhile to realize that we had reached Earth and what we saw before us made us wish that there were more of us on Earth ready to fight.

All of us looked on in mounting horror at the sizeable army that Dark Specter and Astronema had sent to attack Earth. _Angel Grove. My friends._ I suddenly thought. I turned to the others.

"You guys get down to Earth and do anything and everything that you can to make sure that the people down there are safe, there are a couple of underground caverns that my friends and I made for them just in case anything like this happens. Here's the locations, get them down there, leave no one behind. Understand?" I gave the coordinates then spun and was limping quickly toward the doors which opened at my approach; I had taken one step out into the hallway when I was called back.

"What are you going to do?" asked Andros. He blinked when a smile came onto my face.

"I'm going to lay out the red carpet for these guys." I pulled out my sword and powered it up. I looked back at my team mates.

"I'll join you as soon as I can, okay? Good luck you guys." _And may the Power protect you._ I added silently as I instructed DECA to open the hatch doors. Propelling myself out into space and heading toward the army. With my body glowing yellow, I sped toward the first line of ships and tore through them as though they were made of paper. Some of the other ships broke ranks, and began to veer toward me. Raising my hand to block their laser fire, which bounced off of my force field, I placed both heels of my hand together and drew my hands back. Getting a medium sized ball of energy ready I flew upward and through the ranks, all of them were on my tail as I continued to zig zag through them. Soon their ranks were in disarray and instead of lines they were all bunched up and following me; I dodged and twisted in the air, avoiding their phaser fire. I darted here and there, unleashing Energy Blasts now and then, destroying their ships. I saw, that the Astro Mega Ship was already in the Earth's atmosphere and heading toward Angel Grove.

That was where Astronema and her armies were attacking primarily, because it was our home. _Evil took away my home planet; I won't let it take away my adopted planet._ I stopped realizing that I was surrounded on all sides. I separated my hands and held them straight out, in each hand was a ball of energy. I smiled as I stared right at the pilots. _I am so sure that right now, you guys are regretting ever coming within five feet of Earth. _ I began firing a stream of power, that took out most of the pilots that had been in front of me. The others, as soon as they saw me pause for a moment sped toward me. Sending out another stream of power that destroyed the other ships, I flew after the ones that had broken away and were heading toward Earth, I reached them, flew forward until I was directly underneath one of the ships, got out my sword and sliced it in half. Leaping away I attacked the other fleering ships that were trying to escape from my sword, but they weren't so lucky.

Right now, all I could think about were my friends, who were probably watching the invasion from the safety of their homes and being frustrated at not being able to do anything…..but then again these are my friends that we are talking about. So, Tommy and the others might be in the middle of the entire fray, making sure that the people that were running away from the armies, made it to safety. They were probably fighting off enemies, old and new, to make sure that the people were protected. _Rangers to the end._ I thought to myself as another barrage of fighters surrounded me. _Okay, time to end this and go help my team mates. _ I thought as I began to spin fast and faster until I was nothing but a blur, my yellow glow grew brighter still, until the glow turned into power which shot off into each and every direction slamming into the fighters and destroying the army in one full swoop. Slowing to a stop, I had to wait until my head stopped spinning.

Sheathing my sword, I stood for a moment gazing down at the earth, noting, for the first time, its beauty and tranquility. I felt overwhelming sadness that it had been host to thousands of battles between the Power Rangers and their various enemies, and that the inhabitants had been caught in the crossfire time and again. I wasn't really sure if we could ever make up for what we had brought onto this peaceful and beautiful planet…..but we were going to try. _Right now, I only ask that it forgive us for, once again, bringing another battle, that has to be fought, once again on earth., but mark my words, this will be the last time the this planet will be used for a battle field ._As I whipped out my computer, punched in the coordinates of where the center of the fighting was heaviest. I wasn't at all surprised to see my team mates trying to guide the panicked people of Angel Grove to safety while they tried to dodge Quantrons, Tengu Warriors and I'm pretty sure I saw a few Piranhatrons. Some of the people managed to avoid being grabbed, a few others weren't so lucky. A woman was punched savagely in the face by a Tengu Warrior. From my vantage point I saw that the Tengu had managed to draw blood, she screamed and tried to get away as a horde of Piranhatrons and Quantrons surrounded her. I morphed into liquid and shot forward, sliding between the legs of the foot soldiers, I reached the cowering woman; she let out a shriek as she began liquid. The astonished foot soldiers could only watch as we rose into the air and began to spin, at the last second, I reached out with my thoughts, gathering any rubble that was near us and knocking the foot soldiers off of their feet. We materialized; the woman looked stunned then fell on her butt shaking. I reach down and picked her up.

"Hurry! The undergrounds trenches that we dug for you two years ago." _Has it really been that long? Seems like a millennium. _ "Go there, you'll be kept safe." She turned to go, but she stopped when I grabbed her arm. She realized that I was shaking and when I spoke I was crying.

"Forgive us. Oh god forgive us! We're the ones that brought all of this on you; you don't deserve this, if we could change anything and everything, we would have made sure that this place wouldn't be chosen for a battlefield. Forgive us!" The woman looked at me for a full minute; tears were also streaming down her face.

"We forgive you." She said in a low voice. I struggled not to drop to my kness right then, there was a freaking war going on around me that I had to partake in. I released the woman and took a step back.

"Thank you, get your family and head toward the trenches, here's where they are. I'll teleport you to your house. Gather your family and run to the trenches." She nodded as I quickly scanned her then she vanished in a flash of light. I turned when I heard people screaming, I ran toward the sounds of people in trouble and while I slashed and fired and Blasted at my enemies who, for the very first time, didn't seem to be retreating, I thought about that woman and the words that I spoke to her. She had said that she had forgiven us, but what about the rest of the people of Angel Grove. _Do we really deserve their forgiveness? After everything that we've put them through? All of the villains that we had brought to their doorstep? All the battles that we had fought, all the lives that had been lost due to some unlucky people being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Do we really deserve their forgiveness? And even if we do…..will we be able to forgive ourselves? _I shot forward and insert my sword in the stomach of a Qauantron, I'm pretty sure that if its face had any expression, it would have been astonishment. It dropped to its knees, I drew my sword out of its middle and looked up, receiving a slight shock to see that two little kids had seen it all; in fact they were staring at me, their eyes wide with shock.

"Get out of here!" I spoke to them harshly. "Go find your parents." They didn't move, in fact they seemed to shrink from me, their eyes moved to the dead Quantron to me. Feeling like my time was being wasted, I whipped out my computer, the two kids flinched; I scanned the both of them, then teleported them near the trenches. Putting my computer away I spun and threw myself back into the battle.

All of our enemies seemed to be in several place; attacking and destroying them. Prince Gasket and his Cogs were wreaking havoc over at the park, where my friends and I had enjoyed peaceful moments picnicking or playing volleyball, Master Vile, was over at Angel Grove High tearing the school apart, were my friends and I had attended and graduated from. Queen Machina and Prince Sprocket were over by the Angel Grove Mall, where Kimberly and I had spent many a happy hour shopping or eating out. Divatox, well I wasn't sure where she was, but they seemed to be everywhere. In every single place that my friends and I had been to or had found peace and solace after a full day of fighting monsters, they seemed to be targeting everything that made my friends and I happy and feel like normal kids. _How are we going to reach them? How are we going to fight them all?_ I began to feel overwhelmed by what was going on around me, I wanted to scream and scream and scream. I WANTED IT, ALL OF IT TO STOP! Suddenly something flew through the air toward me, I scrambled out of the way as it landed in front of me with a crash that broke the coffin open. I stared down in horror and shock as my mother's corpse stared up at me. I let out a scream.

"No! No no no! Stop it! Leave my mom alone!" I heard the laughter of the Tengu Warriors and I spun to face them, I saw that a couple of them had dirt all over them, evidence that they had desecrated my mother's grave and treated it as a joke! Screaming in rage, I raced at them, slashing and cutting the air, not really knowing where my sword went or caring. I just wanted to hurt them, to make them bleed, to make them feel the pain that for four freaking I have been made to suffer at their hands! I was blown backward by a blast to the chest and slammed into a piece of a building that had been blasted in half. I lay there for a while, then groaning I struggled to my feet. _Hurt them! Kill them! Make them pay! _I gripped my sword and took two steps forward, only to be shoved backward by Goldar, he shoved me against the wall so hard I felt warm blood trickling down my back. I began to try to swipe at him with my sword; screaming at him words that I would have never spoken in my entire life. Using every foul word that I could think of I screamed at him to go to hell, and when he got there, I would be there waiting for him ready to make him suffer each and every punishment that he and his master had ever inflicted on me and then more! And more and more! Until my appetite for blood and vengeance was abated. But it would never end! It would never end! Goldar tightened his hold around my throat so that I was forced to stop speaking, my sword dropped from my hand and I began to gag and struggle to breath.

"You want revenge? Let your master sure you the true meaning of revenge." As he was talking his voice changed and his face…..was it my imagination? His face it was changing color and form. The eyes vanished to be replaced by a silver visor, his head became naked, it became a dark red; veins spider webbed on the sides of his face, his mouth vanished, to be replaced by what looked like a grate. I began shaking with terror I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. I was dropped to the ground where I tried to scramble away only there was nowhere for me to run. I cowered in terror as I tried desperately to convince myself that what I was seeing before me was an illusion, a trick. But no, I could feel his evil radiating off of his body in waves; his entire body was in fact glowing with triumph. _It's not real! It's not real! Dear god, please don't let it be real!_ Lord Zedd was standing in front of me!

I let a shriek and began to crawl backward as fast as I could over rubble and debris as he began to walk toward me, laughing at my fear and terror.

"Did you miss me?" He spread his arms a little, showing me that he was indeed real. My back hit another wall I started to get to my feet to run, to get away from him._ This isn't real. This isn't real! _Zedd stopped a few feet before me, raised his hand and pointed it at me. Instinctively I flinched, almost expecting for him to blast me or send a few fireballs my way or electrocute me. But he didn't do either. I cracked open one eye, peeking through slanted eyelids and shrieked as I saw that he was right in front of me. Grabbing both of my wrists and forcing them to my side he lifted my up and slammed me against the wall.

"You haven't changed a bit, I see. Still expecting punishments for anything and everything that you have done wrong." He paused for a bit, the screams of the people and the shouts of my team mates plus the sounds of the war that was going on around us, didn't seem to have anything to do with this instant.

"You've grown I see, in more ways than one. I can see why Goldar has taken a fancy to you, pity that you don't return his affections. But he's over that. Now being a good master a man of my word, I will punish those who hurt my most powerful and loyal servants." I was sure that if he had a mouth he would be smiling. My body began to shake in fear my heart beat in terror, in my mind all of the torture and punishments that I had suffered at the hands of these monsters resurfaced. His entire body began to glow brightly and with horror I sensed his power, and he unleashed it.

My body jerked and convulsed in painful spasms, my head thrashed from side to side my mouth remained opened as I screamed out the pain that he was sending into me and through me. Up and down my body, my scars on my back and ankle, my mind, everything and everywhere! It was as if we were the only ones on Earth, the only two people and there was no one, no one to hear my screams of agony, or to stop Lord Zedd from killing me. I felt tears streaming down my face and trickle into my open mouth, tasting salt on my tongue, soon my screaming began to turn into laughter. Whether it was of madness or something else, the mad laughter continued to erupt from my mouth. _Kill me! Somebody kill me! End this! Dear god end this! I don't want this anymore! I never wanted this! _ I let out another shriek of pain. _KILL ME!_ Out of the sky a blue light suddenly shot down, coming between Zedd and I and breaking the contact. I fell to my knees then onto my face, demorphing. The sounds of a new battle reached my ears but I shrank from it, not wanting to listen as my beloved and my old master battled a few feet away from me. _No, I don't want this! I don't want this! I don't want to fight anymore. I've been through too much, I've done too much. _I heard Dex and Zedd shriek out anger and their weapons clashed and sent thunder and lighting to the heavens. _Is this punishment for everything that I've done? All the lives that I took? All the blood that I had spilled? If this _is a punishment….._then I deserve it. I deserve to die, me and only me. Not my friends nor the people of Angel Grove. They don't deserve this, only I do and I am willing to die right here and right now. Just so that no one will get hurt on my behalf or on my account. _ Hearing a scream of pain that seemed to go right through me and slam in the core of my very being, I looked up and toward the two battling aliens. Half expecting to see Dex on the ground dying; imagine my surprise and shock to see Dex standing above me. And Zedd….no that wasn't Zedd….it was Goldar. My head spun with questions. Was what I saw real? Was it an illusion? Or have I finally gone completely mad? Dex bent down and picked me up. Putting one of my arms around his neck, we moved a few steps away, he began to grope until he found my locket, his hand tighten around it. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he morphed the both of us into liquid and we took off, away from the war and away from the fighting.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

We arrived at an apartment building, kicking down the front door Dex carried me into the living room and sat me down on the couch; bending down until we were eye to eye he shook me.

"Amy? Amy? Are you with me? Amy!" I stared at him but instead of Dex, I saw Zedd!

"No!" I began screaming kicking him twice in the chest, he fell backward.

"No! No! No!" I scrambled off the couch and ran for the door; Dex leapt up, and tackled me. He grabbed my wrists and pinned me on the ground.

"Amy! It's me! It's Dex!" shouted Dex as his suit vanished. But I wasn't listening; in my mind I was still seeing the face of my master and torturer.

"No! Leave me alone! Get off of me!" I screamed in a high pitched voice that Dex didn't recognize. My eyes were full of terror and I fought even harder screaming at the top of my voice.

"AMY! SNAP OUT OF IT!" shouted Dex. He released my right wrist, pulled back his hand and slapped me. I stopped and stared at the boy, I didn't recognize him at first but little by little memories began to trickle into my mind and his name rose to my lips.

"Dex?" He stared down at me for a long time.

"Amy? Are you…..?" He released my other wrist and rolled off of me, I sat up and stared at him confused as to what went on.

"I—I-I…..don't know." As I began remembering, I shrank back into myself. Slowly almost mechanically, I pulled my knees until they were underneath my chin then rested my forehead on them.. Dex looked at me for another moment; he reached out a hand but pulled back. Getting to his feet, he shuffled over to the kitchen and began to open cabinets, taking out pots and two cans of soup. He opened them up and dumped into the pot, turned on the stove and began cooking. He concentrated on stirring the soup, a couple of times he would glance toward me but….I hadn't changed my position nor did I lift my head. He bit his lower lip, trying to think of a way to bring me out of my state.

Dex went over to another cupboard and took down two bowls, which he filled with soup. Giving himself a shake, he walked toward me and gently picked me up until I was standing on my own two feet. Seeing that my back was once again starting to bleed he made a mental note to take care of that as soon as I had gotten my strength back.

Leading me over to the couch again, he sat me down. He left then came back with a bowl of soup which he held to my lips. My face, he saw, held a blank look. Dex knelt down before me, and looked into my face. _Is she giving up?_ Anger rose within him.

"Amy Karmer you listen to me and you listen good! You have to come out of wherever you are right now and continue fighting. The people of Angel Grove are depending on you for their survival, to get them out of this darkness that they are in. You can't let them down. You will not let them down Amy Karmer do you hear me? I will not _let _you!" He saw me blink; I raised my head slightly and looked at him. A ray of hope rose within him and he continued.

"Amy, I know everything seems lost, but you mustn't give up, you must not give up. If you give up, you are giving up on everything that you have been fighting for. You're giving up on peace and freedom. You're giving up on the people that care about you. You're giving up on your friends and allies." He paused then said in a low voice.

"You're giving up on me. Don't do this to me Amy, please don't. I know what you going through truly I do, on Edenio, Dregon's forces were everywhere, my followers and I, we couldn't find any sanctuary from Dregon's evil. I-I wanted to flee Edenio, to get away from the fighting, the madness that came with war, I felt like I was dying each and every day. It was not until I came to Earth and met you that my strength and sanity began to return." Tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face. "I have lost so much to the forces of evil, so much. I don't want to lose you to them, I…I couldn't stand it if that happened. Amy, please come back to me. Please." He finished in a whisper; he bowed his head and began to cry softly. A few moments passed, then he felt a hand slide into his. He looked up; half surprised half relieved to see that I was looking at him with clear eyes. Dex leaned forward and hugged me tightly. _I'm sorry._ I thought as tears began to stream down my cheeks.

Despite the fighting that was still continuing outside of our temporary refuge, despite the people that had nowhere to turn and were calling out for saviors, Dex and I, just for a moment, relaxed at the kitchen table ate some soup and began to regain our strength. Dex had told me that this apartment that we were in was actually my old apartment. I gave a start and looked around, it felt strange to be back in this place, it felt even stranger to be sitting at the table and eating while there was a war going on. But it felt rather nice to be doing something so….so…..ordinary for a change. Unreal but nice. The apartment felt as if it belonged to another person and that Dex and I were intruding. I glanced around then behind me as if the real owner of the apartment was going to come in at any moment and demand that we vacant the premises.

"What's wrong?" asked Dex sensing my discomfit. I looked at him and shook my head.

"It just feels weird bring back here, almost….unreal…..like I don't belong here anymore." He was silent for a moment. He looked up again as I spoke to him.

"Sorry about earlier, it's just that with everything that has been going on right now, I feel like I'm totally losing it, and seeing Zedd again….right there in front of me….in the flesh….." My voice broke and my hand that was holding my spoon began to shake so that it clicked against the bowl. Dex reached out his hand and gripped my shaking one; he looked into my fear filled eyes.

"It wasn't Zedd." I stared at him in surprise.

"What do you…?"

"It wasn't him. Not really. It was an illusion. "

"But-but I saw…I heard….." I started. Dex shook his head.

"It was an illusion Amy, it wasn't was Goldar, he was putting you underneath another spell. He was using your fear of Lord Zedd to render you helpless for a split second, in that second he took advantage and….." he tilted his head to one side as if saying "Well, you know." I closed my eyes briefly and shook my head.

"I was so sure that he had returned, it looked so real Dex, what he did to me that felt real too."

"Believe me; what he did to you was no illusion." said Dex grimly.

"I'm just glad that I got there in the nick of time." I squeezed his hand in gratitude. Then,

"Dex what about the people of Leawood. Dregon must have unleashed the full strength of his forces once he had heard that Dark Spector was making an all out assault on Earth….I'm rather surprised that I didn't see him today." Dex had a tired look on his face, plus his eyes had the look of an old man.

"Believe me Dregon is indeed making a full out assault on Leawood." He hesitated for a moment.

"Is it that bad?" I asked in a low voice. He didn't answer, he continued to absently spoon soup into his mouth. I opened my mouth to say something but then closed it, Dex would say that he could handle things over at Leawood and would come to my rescue. But I feared that maybe all of this was pushing him to his limits. _I wish that he would focus on Leawood and not think about me being in danger so much._

I thought about the entire situation and my shoulders sagged and an overwhelming tiredness swept over me. _How were we going to fight off an army as large as the one that Dark Spector has? All of our enemies, both old and new are attacking Angel Groveand our planet. Even with my powers at full strength and with the help of Aisha and the spirit of the Might Morphing Power Rangers….how are we going to beat them, without getting everyone on Earth killed?_ After we ate, Dex and I went to my old bedroom where we took it in turns to wash ourselves, night had already fallen and I had turned on a few lights in the apartment. As I was sitting on my bed brushing my damp hair; I stared unblinkingly into my mirror. I was surprised to see that, after everything that I've been through, I didn't have the appearance of an old woman. My hair was still dark, with no white streaks in it, my eyes….they no longer held their sparkle of youthfulness or laughter. They looked tired and worn, observers of the horrors of war unwilling precipitators of torture and death. I thought back to the days of my youth when I had been carefree and happy…but even those days seemed so far away as though they belonged to another person or were fragments of a pleasant dream that I once had to help me escape from the nightmare that was now my life. _I can never go back to those carefree days ever again; I had changed too much, everything around me as changed for the worst. _I stopped brushing and let it fall to the floor I bowed my head and my shoulders began to shake with silent sobs. _If by slim chance, we do win this war, where does that leave us? We've been fighting for so long, can we really go back to our normal lives? Can I go back to living a normal life, after everything that I've done?_ I shook my head silently. _No, I can never go back, I can't go back to my carefree days, for they had died when I made that bargain with Zedd, when I killed Aisha, when I accepted to take her place as the Yellow Ranger. I can't go back…I can never go back._ I buried my face in my hands and wept for everything that I had lost, everything that my friends and team mates were going to lose and had already lost. I thought of my father and mother and for the lost planet of Eltar. _They didn't deserve that. It's all because of me! Everything that is happening right now is because of me._ A moment later I felt Dex's strong arms wrap themselves around me, I heard him whisper

"I'm here Amy, I'm here for you." I turned slowly turned toward him and stared into his eyes. Our faces were inches from each other's and we kept bringing them closer together until our lips touched. Our kiss became more passionate, I leaned into him until we were both lying on the bed and I was on top of him. Soon he was on top of me and touching me all over, running his fingers through my hair, his hands moved to my shirt that I was wearing as a pajama top and he slid it off. We made love.

As Dex and I were lying in each others arms afterwards, I thought about everything that had been happening up to this point. _Maybe…maybe…this was the entire reason I was born. To go through all of this pain and suffering…..if I hadn't gone through any of it then….it wouldn't have shaped me into who I am today, I wouldn't be pushed to my limits time and again and I wouldn't have found out who I really was or where I really came from. _I turned my head and looked over at Dex, who was sleeping, and looking peaceful for the first time since I met him. _I certainly wouldn't have met the love of my life._ I thought of everything that I had accomplished in the last four years as a Power Ranger. _Certainly a lot more than I had ever accomplished as an ordinary person, that's for damn sure. _I turned over on my side. Everything that I've done so far, I've done to protect the people that I love and care about, my adopted planet, my adopted sisters and my friends, who have become my family. They have always been there for me; they have certainly never let me down. _It's time for me to return the favor, I've got to get over this depression that I've been in and continue fighting, for my friends, my family and for the planet Earth and for the man that I love, and if I go down, I'm going to make absolutely certain that I take as many Tengu Warriors, not to mention Goldar, with me. _ I sat up and turned to look at Dex. He looked like a little boy. _This is how he must have looked like before he was made into an orphan, before his life turned into hell, before he had to assume the heavy responsibilities of being Prince of Edenio. I'll return those peaceful days to Dex, and I'll also return them to your people. I promise._ As if sensing that I watching over him, Dex opened his eyes and looked at me, he gave me a small smile then sat up. Giving each other a long look, we climbed out of bed silently and got dressed. It was morning, quite possibly the last morning that Dex and I and the people of Angel Grove would ever see before the Forces of Evil succeeded in taking over everything that all of us hold near and dear. Even though neither of us were hungry and the thought of food turned my stomach, we both ate; we had to have strength within us, when we went out to face the armies of evil and possibly our deaths. _If we die, at least we'll go down fighting. _After eating our breakfast, I levitated the dishes over to the sink while Dex and I continued to sit at the table. Both of us were terrified of going out there and not….coming out of the battle alive afterward. The fact that if the both of us died….._no we mustn't think that, if we do then we'll never get through this._ We stood up at the same time and walked toward the front door. Opening it we looked toward the sun that was rising into the sky. Dex gripped my hand I gave a tight squeeze back, and then the both of us stepped out of the apartment, morphed into the Yellow Ranger and Masked Rider and went back out to our separate battlefields.

As I stood with my fellow Rangers(minus Andros) on top of one of the few buildings that had remained standing, and looked over the destroyed city of Angel Grove. The sight of broken buildings and the rubble, I began to remember the vision that I had at the cemetery all those years ago. _It seems like a life time ago now._ I thought to myself as Ecliptor Goldar and their foot soldiers began to attack both ends of the city. Most of the people of Angel Grove had been moved to the underground trenches, the people that couldn't make it to the trenches were in hiding right now. Fearful for their lives and the lives of their families. _God, please don't let them get caught in the crossfire of this battle._ The sun was now high in the sky, Ecliptor and his forces, with Goldar and his forces were calling the Power Rangers out, we should come out and face them or the people of Angel Grove will be the ones to pay for our cowardice. _Cowards? Who does Goldar think he is, calling us cowards? _ I was about to open my mouth and call down to the army when a shout from a woman, a civilian rose up.

"We're already here. I am the Pink Ranger!" She came out of a broken down building and stepped forward boldly. Soon a man came out also from behind a piece of wall.

"I'm the Red Ranger!" I stared astonished as the people of Angel Grove, actually stepped forward, claiming to be us, answering Goldar's and Ecliptor's challenge! I saw Glodar's eyes flash, he pointed his staff at the first woman who had called out and fired at her. The woman gave out a shriek and put up her hands shielding herself. But the blast stopped a few feet from her, looking up the woman saw me. I turned to her.

"Nice one Pink Ranger, but I suggest you and the other "Rangers" head for cover, this could get ugly." I vanished and appeared in front of Goldar, slamming my elbow into his chin, he fell backward. Raising himself up he gave out the cry to attack, the Tengu Warriors all sprang forward and went to attack the people, a building landed in front of them; crushing the Tengu that had been foolish enough to position themselves in front.

A couple of them turned toward me, I had one hand out and pointed directly at them.

"I don't think so." Fully turning, I vanished once again, the Tengu Warriors all looked around, and then all of them began to fall backwards or onto their sides as they were kicked, punched or Blasted backwards. I glanced at the fallen Tengu. _Hmmm. No contest._ I thought as I looked around for Goldar, I saw him not too far away, battling Carlos. I sprang forward to help but was tackled by a Piranhatron. Quickly morphing and sliding out from underneath it. I leaped up just as it was getting to its knees and inserted my sword in its chest. It fell forward dead; quickly I wiped the blood off of my sword and charged back into the battle. The other Rangers were having a tough time as it was fighting both Tengu, Piranhatron, Quantron plus Goldar and Ecliptor. I half expected for Rito Revolto to be there fighting beside Goldar and I idly wondered where Darkonda was, for he seemed to have vanished. _Well, good thing he isn't here._ I thought as I ducked as a Tengu Warrior preformed a round house kick, I grabbed a leg lifted up the Tengu and threw him over my shoulder, another Tengu was in front of me in a matter of seconds. Lifting up my arm to block his punch, I swung my leg forward, causing him to fall flat onto his back, giving his stomach a hard enough punch to knock the breath out of him, I leapt over the Tengu and tried to access the situation.

There were still too many badies to even begin to figure out if we were wining or losing, worse, the people of Angel Grove, the ones who had stood up for us, were now fighting alongside us, I couldn't use my powers at the risk of hurting civilians while at the same time trying to drive back our enemies. As I looked around at all the debris an idea came to me. _I may not be able to use all of my power but at least I can clear the area of foot soldiers._ I thought to myself as I levitated cars and pieces of building and rubble and flung them toward the Tengu Warriors, the Quantrons and the Piranhatrons. Soon I had managed to drive them back. TJ and the others were trying to convince the rest of the people to go to the underground trenches but they refused wanting to fight for their city and their planet.

"This is no time for heroics. Look we appreciate what you guys have done for us, we really do but now you have to get out of here before….." An explosion directly behind the crowd of people went off. Some of them crumpled to the ground.

"No!" I shouted and started forward but something was holding my feet down. Struggling my hardest, I finally managed to lift up one leg, even though Goldar's telekinesis was making it weigh a thousand pounds; even taking one step forward was nearly impossible, but I had to reach the people who had been caught in the blast. I had to heal them; I didn't want anyone else to die.

The crowd had already began to run for cover some of them were trying to haul the people that had been caught in the blast to safety, only to be attacked by Tengu Warriors. I saw that some of them tried to fight them off only to fall. My team mates sprang forward to defend the people only to be overwhelmed by a horde of Piranhatron and Quantrons, I powered up my sword and flung it as hard as I could. Like a boomerang it struck the foot soldiers allowing my team mates to grab the injured people and the ones that had been trying to help, and lead them to safety. Before it could return to my hand though, I was struck on the front, the back and both sides, by cars, debris and pieces of building. A jagged piece of glass inserted itself into the middle of back, making me shout in pain, toppling forward onto my knees and hands it took me a few seconds to realize that I could move again. Before I could do anything however, I was blasted forward and slammed into the side of another building. Staggering to my feet, even though every part of my body was shouting protest, I manage to stop the barrage of fire balls coming toward me.

Concentrating my tired mind I shot the fire balls toward the army of Quantrons, Piranhantrons and Tengu Warriors, I felt a cruel sense of satisfaction as I heard their screams. Turning my head to face Goldar, I couldn't help but stare at him for a moment as he stalked toward me. There was something impressive about him with smoke rising behind him and his staff in one hand and his sword in the other. I stepped away from the wall and took a few steps forward. I saw that Carlos was dragging himself to safety, Goldar, it seemed had managed to break one of his legs. That didn't matter to me in the slightest; all that mattered was stopping him once and for all. I began to limp rapidly toward him, I saw my sword lying to my right, veering toward it, I picked it up and confronted Goldar, who raised both staff and sword and fired. I leapt into the air, somersaulted over him, landed behind him and slashed at his back with my sword. He spun, bringing his sword to met my own, he pointed the staff at me and fired; I leapt back and ducked to the right. Goldar brought the staff down on me, I ducked and spun and shot out my foot.

He jumped up, twirling my sword, I sent it slamming into his chin, as he was reeling, I quickly sheathed it and began to attack him with my fists. With a last punch to the chin which sent him flying, I shot toward him; I was about to bring both of my interlocked hands down onto his face when his sword appeared in his hand, I spun in midair dodging it. He pointed the staff and blasted me, I was flung backward. Slowing my descent, and stopping I flung myself onto him. Goldar met me and we began a furious battle of fists, powers and weapons.

Both of us were flung back by the strength of each other's blasts but that didn't stop us from continuing the battle, which had now been taken to the very sky. The both of us knew that today, was going to be the last time that we would ever face each other in battle, there would be now holding back this time, we could go all out and one of us would finally finish the other off….or die trying. Letting out yells, we powered up, until we were glowing and the air crackled with energy. We floated in mid air staring at each other, then moving so fast the not one person on the ground could see us, for the people of Angel Grove were watching the entire battle as though hypnotized, Goldar and I both vanished. The people looked around scanning the sky, but all they could hear was the clashes of power against power, punches being thrown, weapons clashing and battle cries. After what seemed like a long time, I appeared only to crash into the middle of the street, getting to my feet I shot upward leaving a sizeable crater where I had landed. Goldar was above ready and waiting, pointing both hands toward me he began to fire, dodging and twisting to avoid the blasts, I managed to squeeze between the small space in the middle of his arms and drive my fist into his face, which momentarily stopped his firing.

I brought my foot down, striking him on the top of his head. I shot downward and grabbed him by the head, drove my knee into his chest pointed my open palm directly into his face and fired. As he was careening backwards toward the ground, I shot toward him. I was intending to finish him off once ad for all and then go directly to Astronmea's ship and demand where my father was being kept. Goldar suddenly spun twice in mid air and vanished. I halted and hovered trying to find where he went, but I couldn't sense him. _Where is he?_ Taking a chance I closed my eyes then shot them open a split second later and swerved to one side dodging a Blast that was streaking toward me from above. Next I had to dodge a couple of whole buildings that was being uprooted from their foundations and were being flung toward me, dodging and twisting through a broken window of a very large building, I turned in time to see Goldar fly toward me and lay a highly powered uppercut to my chin. My head was jerked back, Goldar rammed himself into my back and took off, only to double back and slam his foot into my chest. After the fourth time, I was completely winded and quite unprepared for the next attack, I was suddenly caught up in a whirl wind, and struck again and again from all sides by a combination electricity and power from his staff and his sword. Everyone saw my body go limp, the whirlwind stopped and I began my descent toward the ground. Above me, Goldar was about to unleash his final attack, powering up and creating a large energy ball that crackled and sparked, he waited until it was big enough so that I couldn't possibly survive, then laughing his triumphant he threw it down toward me.

Just as it was about to reach me, a barrage of multicolored Power Blasts shot the attack off course, it flew to the other side of the battle field where it exploded. Goldar turned and saw to his amazement, Tommy, Rocky, Adam, my two adopted Sisters, Kimberly and Katherine, Billy, Jason Zack and Trini! My friends and the original Power Rangers! Letting out yells of battle all of them dove forward and began to fight the army of foot soldiers. The fresh wave of Power Rangers bore down on all of them, Rocky ran toward me where I had fallen and picked me up. He shook me

"Short stuff! Short stuff wake up!" Letting out a moan I opened my eyes and stared upward into the face of the Blue Zeo Ranger.

"Blue Elf?" I murmured. He laughed.

"Man, it is such a relief to hear you call me that again."

"But how?"

"Aisha of course, she said that you Andros and the others needed some help big time, so she gave us our old powers back, Jason Zack and Trini too. All three of them were teleported to Angel Grove, isn't that just too awesome? Listen I'll explain more later; right you have to heal yourself and get back in the game." Letting out a grunt he helped me up. Not too far off I saw Tommy, the Red Zeo Ranger battling with Goldar, his old nemesis, I was content to watch and not take part but Goldar blasted Tommy back, turned and charged Blue Elf and I. Rocky put himself in front of me and met Goldar head on, while I dropped to one knee, urging my healing power to get a move on and kick in.

Rocky and Goldar battled, it seemed, for a short time before Rocky, like Tommy, was blasted backward. Goldar charged toward me, his sword and staff raised, I raise my sword and stopped his weapons from coming within inches of my shoulders. Using all of my strength I flung him back and staggered to my feet, and flung myself toward him. As we circled each other and began to fight, I couldn't help but think that it was strange. It was strange that I should be fighting and trying to finish off Goldar when it had been Count Dregon that had started it all. _The destruction of my people, my planet, the cause of my amnesia._ He was the sole reason that my mother and I had fled toward Earth, toward Angel Grove, he was the sole reason why Lord Zedd had found me in the first place, had cast that spell on me that turned me into a monster and a murderer. _In a sense, Count Dregon is the one that gave me all of this pain and guilt in the first place. _But then I thought of Dex, his nephew, whose parents had been killed by Count Dregon and whose home planet was now under his tyranny, his people suffering. _Dex deserves his revenge against Count Dregon more than me._ I thought as I ducked Goldar's sword and tried to sweep Goldar's feet from underneath him, he jumped up and brought his sword down on me, I flung myself to one side, rolled to my feet and grabbed his sword just as it came whistling toward me. Goldar slid the sword from my grasp, blood flowed from my hand but I didn't notice it, for at that time, I didn't take much notice of anything…..except for a sharp pain in my chest that could only mean one thing.

"No." I whispered horror struck. I leapt up and began to fly toward Astronema's ship, which was high above Angel Grove.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! DAD! DAD!" I began to scream, calling on the last of my strength to reach the ship; I had the vain hope that I could reach him that I could save him. _Not again, not again. Please! I can't lose him not my father please!_

Suddenly I saw something streak toward me from the ship. I stopped in my tracks and stared as a blue wave suddenly appeared before me. Throwing up my hands to shield myself, it passed right through me and toward Angel Grove, hovering I turned and watched in shock and amazement as all the Tengu Warriors, the Quantrons and the Piranhatrons turned to dust right before my eyes! I floated down and stared up at the ship as it began its slow descent to Earth, knowing without really know how I knew, that my father was dead. All around me the people of Angel Grove were celebrating, clapping cheering hugging each other, my friends my team mates. But none of that mattered now, it didn't really matter. My father, my mentor, my friend was dead. As soon as I touched the ground I fell to my knees and wanted to howl my misery and grief up to the sky.

I heard footsteps come toward me, but I didn't look up, I was still too shocked and overwhelmed with grief to notice or care that Goldar was standing behind me.

"At last. I have finally beaten you, you little half human brat. By taking away the one person that you care about other than the other Rangers and the Edenionite I have finally, finally broken your spirit. I have to say that everything went smoothly, a few bumps here and there but the end result, ah, it couldn't have ended more beautifully. I guess it would be a shame to say that this is the end. But what an ending it is, to finally see you on your knees. The perfect revenge for the murder of my master; the ultimate revenge." He said as he drew out his sword. His words barely made it through my numbed brain, except for one thought. _He planned this._ _He planned all of this. _ Rage filled me, _He knew that taking away dad, the only family that I had…._ Letting out a yell, I leapt up unsheathed my sword and began to beat Goldar with it, I was dimly aware of the look of surprise on his face at the force of my savagery. Even though he tried to stay on his own two feet he stumbled and fell, I kept striking his sword over and over trying to get to him. _He planned it; he planned everything, Justin's torture, mine, all the pain and misery that I went through and for what? Just so he could beat me take away the one person that has held me together all of this time? He took everything from me! EVERYTHING! FROM THE VERY BEGINGING!_

"YOU BASTARD! YOU BASTERD!" I screamed. Nearly about to finish him off, I was unprepared for the stinging pain that I felt in my stomach_,_ looking down I saw the end of his sword inserted into my stomach. I looked at it for a few moments, then dropped to my knees. From a long way off I heard my friends scream, I also heard Goldar's laughter and in the back of my mind the words _déjà vu_ came to mind, then everything went black.

I found myself lying on some grass in a clearing, it took me a while to realize that my body was no longer aching and all the pain that I had suffered recently felt like a distant memory. Standing up, I looked around. The first thing I noticed was that I was alone, I was pretty sure that I was standing on a cliff of some sort, overlooking some plains; I could see some mountains in the distance. Glancing behind me, I couldn't see anything except for a type of fog that that seemed to roll forward and then roll back on itself. And I knew, without knowing how, that the fog meant to go…on.

I looked around suddenly wondering where I was. _Is this purgatory, where all sinners go to get cleansed before traveling to heaven? Or is this somewhere else?_ The more I looked around, the more the land seemed familiar to me._ It looks a bit like Angel Grove_.

"It is." Said a voice behind me. "Yet it isn't. Spinning around I saw my father standing behind me, whole and human once again, he spread his arms wide.

"Amy." I stared at him not moving and watched as he stepped toward me. Tears were in his eyes as he walked more closer; I could only stare at him as he came to stand in front of me. He reached out a hand toward me, I took a step back. For I didn't feel any happiness at seeing my father, alive, whole and human again. Instead I felt anger.

"How could you?" I asked in a choked whisper. Tears were streaming down my cheeks I didn't attempt to brush them away.

"How could you die like that and leave us? Tommy, Jason, Kat and all the others? I thought we meant something more to you."

"You do Amy; all of you have become the family that I had lost, that we had lost." Sadness was in his face and voice and I began to hate him.

"Then why did you leave us?" I demanded.

"Earth and all the planets in the solar system were being overwhelmed by Dark Specter's army, the entire universe was going to fall; I had to do something." Then he said in a strained whisper. "It was the only way, the only way to save my family and the planet that I had called home, I couldn't let it fall, not to the Dark Forces; I couldn't bear it if Earth became another Eltar. So I asked Andros to shatter my tube and I was released in a wave that decimated the evil across the galaxy saving everything and everyone."

"Andros?" I said in shock. I took a step back.

"Andros was the one that…..but he….he couldn't have done that…he wouldn't…..he knew that….."

"It was the only way."

"The only way!" I shouted angrily. I shook my head.

"I refuse to believe that, there had to be another way, a way that didn't result in…." I buried my face in my hands.

"If there _had been _another way….I would have gladly taken it…..but do you think I would have been happy to see my adopted planet, my friends, family and allies enslaved to the forces of evil? To see the planet in which I had sworn to protect fall to Dark Specter's legion? Of course not. I couldn't bear it if that happened."

"S—so you sacrifice yourself to save Angel Grove and the entire universe, but what about us dad? Have you thought about how all of us would take your death? After all that we've been through? You're just going to leave us? You're going to leave me again, fatherless and alone. Dad, do you have any idea how long and how hard I've searched for you, and now to have finally found you only to….." I couldn't go on; I turned my head away from him. It was a while before I could speak.

"So all of it, the searching, the battling of the monsters, of fighting Goldar, the torture and the sacrifices that all of us have made for you. It was all for nothing?" He was silent for a moment then speaking softly he said.

"No, not nothing. You and the others have grown, both as individuals and as Rangers, you found out your true strengths and have pushed yourselves to your very limits in what you thought was right and true. I have never been more proud of you. That why I asked Andros to shatter my tube so that all of you could continue on with your lives, happy and free, so that you could finish growing and start families of your own. This sacrifice is my last gift to you, to all of you." He paused. "Believe me Amy if…if there was anyway that I could have changed it, any of it….I would have gladly done so." I looked at my father for the longest time, then I threw my arms around him hugging him tightly and crying.

"Don't leave! Please don't! All the things that we were going to do….You promised. I don't want you to leave. Daddy, please…." I sobbed. I hugged him hard, he smoothed back my hair, and I could feel his entire body shaking. And I knew that he didn't want to leave either. But….I could feel him pulling away from me. I held on tighter refusing to let go, but despite that I felt him sliding away from me. He was no longer in my arms, I reached out toward him.

"No! No! No! FATHER!" I heard his voice and he spoke to me one last time.

"I love you Amy, I always will, my last gift to you and only you; I undo the last of Zedd's magic." I saw dad, as he was sliding away, point his hand toward me, my head reeled and I was thrown back. I let out a gasp as something within my mind, like a veil long drawn over, was lifted and I saw for the first time, what had really happened the night of Aisha's death._ I was blown away by the Ranger's power and fell flat onto my back, struggling to sit up. I saw the Yellow Ranger, Aisha Campbell being blasted relentlessly by Goldar. Her body jerked horribly and she fell, Goldar was walked toward her as she tried to stand, to fight, but her body had been damaged, despite her protective suit, her daggers lay a dozen or so feet away from her. Goldar towered over her, he stopped for a moment and stared down at her, I could watch in horror as he brought his sword down._ The realization that I wasn't the one that killed her, that my hands weren't stained with her blood did nothing to elevate the feeling of emptiness and sadness that had taken hold of me.

Opening my eyes in the next moment, I found myself staring up into the face of the Masked Rider, around me were my friends and team mates, all of them were crying. _They're crying for dad._ I thought to myself. It took me a while to realize that all of them were crying for me as well, because they thought that I was dead. I saw that Kat and Kimberly were supporting each other and sobbing, Blue Elf and Adam were holding on to each other and shaking their heads. Tommy had thrown down his sword and was on his knees, I saw that his sword had a bloodstain on it and not too far away was the body of Goldar, lying still and I knew for a fact that he was finally dead. _It's over; it's finally over, but at what price? _I began to cry for everything that I had lost, above me the others reacted and drew back; startled for a moment, then they helped me up and hugged me tightly. They began to cry out of joy and sadness, for even though the planet and the universe had been saved, we had lost a good friend.

We held a memorial for him in the place where the Command Center had once stood, because that's where all of us at met him for the very first time. Erecting a silver cross and planting it firmly into the ground, we placed flowers and said thank you for his sacrifice. Everyone, from Trey of Triforia, the Aquatar Rangers, to the Phantom Ranger, to King Lexian came to Angel Grove to pay their last respects to a good friend and ally. Jason and Tommy each said a few words, even though, halfway through their speech they broke down. I bowed my head and wept as well. It struck me as a bit humorous that we could get through battles and heartache but we couldn't get through the funeral of our friend and mentor. _If it weren't for him, choosing me to be the next Yellow Ranger, I wouldn't be here right now, I wouldn't have met the greatest friends that a person could ever have nor would I have ever had the greatest love of my life. Dad,_ I thought as I turned my face up to the sky and let the tears flow, _I hope you are happy and are reunited with our people and with mom._ Everyone, stopped by me and either shook my hand or hugged me ad gave their condolences; they told me that my father had been a great man and a good friend who had died for the people and the planet that he loved. I smiled at all of them, grateful for their words. After everyone had left, I limped toward my father's grave and stared down at it for a while, despite having cried my eyes out during the eulogy, simple words just didn't seem to describe my father at all. He was more than a father, more than a mentor, more than a friend. _And more than anything he will be missed._ I took a step back, turned and began to limp toward my friends who had been waiting for me, I glanced aback at my father's grave and an image of the graveyard on Eltar rose up in my mind. _I'm the only one now._ Turning toward my friends I joined them as we headed toward Angel Grove to help with the reconstruction of the city plus the other cities and planets that had been attacked in the final battle. It was going to be a lot of work but…in a way all us of needed it, to help us cope with the loss and ready ourselves for the future. A future that all us of would live long and full lives with the people that we love. _We'll never forget you dad, we love you._

**The End**


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

**Aftermath**

They say that Rome wasn't built in a day; I could certainly believe that; for neither was Angel Grove. In fact it took only a couple of months, the entire city had been reduced to rubble, but we had gotten a lot of help from the people of Angel Grove. Helping them to rebuild their fallen city was the least that we could do, considering that we had brought hell onto their doorstep. The other Power Rangers of the universe wanted to help also, in order to thank us, my friends and I and my team mates; for everything that we had done for them….but we told them that we were grateful and all, but they should probably go back to their own worlds and help rebuild _their_ destroyed cities. At first they protested but then they finally got the message. We…..needed time to ourselves for a bit, to deal with the fact that our mentor and best friend was gone. All of them understood and after patting us on the shoulders, wishing us good luck and to drop by anytime in case we wanted to talk, they departed.

While we were working Tommy had told me what had happened after Goldar had "killed me"

"I just went wild Amy, in fact," he looked around at my two sisters, my friends and fiancée.

"We all did. Seeing him kill you, right before our eyes….it….it brought….all of this pain back…" he couldn't go on and turned away. Dex put one arm around me and hugged me. Kim had her head bowed and was sniffing. Blue Elf looked at me and said with a quiet little laugh.

"We were pretty brutal; you wouldn't have recognized us Short Stuff." He titled his head to one side and I knew that a savage grin was creeping onto his face. We were still in our suits and helmets.

"All of us….every one of us, would do it again…." said Kim in a soft voice. Tommy continued.

"The Tengu Warriors….they came down and began to attack us from all sides; we could barely fight them off. In fact some of them were heading in your direction and Goldar was screaming something about how….how….they should tear your body apart….so…so you wouldn't be able to come back. Like last time." His voice suddenly shook.

"They were everywhere, plus they were stronger than we remembered. They were all over you Amy….we were trying to reach you but Goldar kept blasting us back and laughing at the same time, the Tengu Warriors, they reached your body and for a few minutes they…..they…" Tommy's voice broke and he couldn't go on, he placed one hand on his face and his shoulders shook. With difficulty it seemed; Adam took up the narrative.

"Something happened. You began to glow a bright yellow. Blasted the Tengu back and knocked all of us off of our feet. Then your body…just kind of rose into the air and stood itself on its own two feet, but….it wasn't you." I stared at Adam in confusion. Billy spoke up.

"The battle stopped for a few moments and Goldar, well he was also staring at you. He had this crazy look in his eyes and he began screaming that you will not escape death a second time and raced at you. But whatever that has happening to you shoved him back before he could even reach you. Before any of us could do anything however, this light shot out of you and entered Goldar and his staff. A couple of lights shot out of both Goldar and the staff."

"It was the power that was stolen from you all those years ago." said Kat rather breathlessly. Kimberly nodded looking rather awed.

"At first we thought the stolen power was going to be returned to you Ames, but…it entered…..into each of us." I saw that Jason was staring down at his hands and Trini was staring around as if reliving the events. Zack had one hand on his chest, where my power must have gone into. Tommy got his voice back.

"All of us….were filled with incredible power….I've….I've never felt anything like it…..it was beyond anything that we had ever felt…anything that we had ever experienced." The others nodded unable to say anything, knowing that mere words could not ever, never in a million years describe what they had felt. Trini seemed to be staring right though me, although when she spoke she was addressing me.

"We…we attacked Goldar with everything that we had, and I saw her….I saw Aisha and you! The both of you were fighting beside us!" I stared at her.

"But….but….. How can that be? My spirit, my soul was in that fog covered place and…and I was talking to dad, saying goodbye to him." Pian flared up in my heart and I blinked back tears. It still came as a shock that I would never hear or see my father again.

The others were silent for a while.

"If you were with Zordon….then….maybe…..it was a different you that was with us." said Billy after a pause. We all looked at him, it was a while before he spoke, and it seemed he was trying to explain it to himself as well.

"Okay, this is just a theory, but I think in reality, there are two people living inside all of. One is the warrior sworn to protect Angel Grove, the Earth and its people." We all nodded.

"And the other is the human that goes to school, does his/her chores that their parents ask that we do ect. Now the Yellow Ranger that was fighting besides us….that was Amy's warrior spirit. Amy's warrior spirit fought along side us because, well, like us, she's sworn to protect Angel Grove, the Earth, the people and us. She joined in the fight because not only was it her duty but because she was also protecting us, her friends."

"Then the spirit that was talking to dad…." Dex spoke up.

"That was you Amy, the daughter that Zordon lost but found again." I turned away at these words. _He might have found me again, but he lost me all over again._ Tommy cleared his throat and told ms what happened next: how everyone had unleashed the power and struck Goldar again and again and how they saw the look in his eyes change from fury to fear then make to fury. He had begun to fight his hardest to kill my friends and the original Power Rangers and the Masked Rider, even though he was clearly outnumbered 8 to 1, not even the Tengus could help him.

"Speaking of the Tengu Warriors, how did _they_ survive Zordon's energy wave?" I heard Kat ask. I heard Billy mutter something, but I wasn't really listening, nor was I listening as Tommy told how each and every one of their weapons began to glow. Sensing that now was the time to finish off Goldar; all of them struck him hard, but it had been Tommy that had struck the killing blow. I turned toward Tommy and nodded my head.

"I…I think that…you deserved it more Tommy…then any of us." He looked at me and nodded.

"I wish that we had done this sooner, prevented all of this somehow then maybe Zordon didn't have to…." He said heavily. I reached out and gave his hand a squeeze he looked up and smiled. All of us became silent for a long time, thinking about the different possible ways that we could have won this war without dad having to sacrifice himself in order to save all of us, but….no matter how many different ways or strategies or battle plans that came into our heads…..in the end….it had been the only way to end a long and painful war.

After the city of Angel Grove had been rebuilt to its former glory once again and the people had been returned to their families and homes, my friends and I journeyed to Leawood. Once there, Dex, along with the entire city began rebuilding and fixing the damage that Count Dregon had caused. Count Dregon and his minions, Dex told me, had also been destroyed by dad's energy field.

"In fact it didn't at all surprise me that Count Dregon didn't come to face me himself." He paused for a minute then said with a hint of anger.

"I wish he did though, after everything that he put my people, my grandfather and the people of Leawood through, I would have gladly gone up onto his Spider Base and…." His fists clenched and began shaking slightly, then relaxed them after a moment and sighed.

"Well, in any case, it's over. Edenio is free, my people are finally free!" Dex grabbed me and twirled me around. I laughed, happy that all of the evil that had been out in the universe had now been destroyed.

Leawood was rebuilt in another couple of months and my friends and I took another journey, but this time to Edenio. There all of us received a hero's welcome. The entire planet had been rebuilt, long before my friends and I had arrived. That was all thanks to Tenotomon; he had helped in the repairs, by accessing the blue prints of the cities of Edenio that were in his data banks and directing the people in what they needed to do, they had rebuilt Edenio in no time.

"Outstanding Alpha!" said Blue Elf with a grin on his face. Kim and Kat both hugged him while Adam slapped on the back.

"Just a little something I'd thought I'd do, what with all the work that all of you did, you must be exhausted." Tento said.

"You have no idea." said Kat.

Dex was a little way off, being surrounded by his people who were shaking his hand, patting him on the back and hugging him, they were happy to see him home at last; it had been hard for him to leave Earth, Leawood and the Stewart family. They had first found him and befriended him when Dex first came to Earth; they taught him all about living life like a normal teenager and helped him out in the battles between himself and Count Dregon. In a way, and they were the family that he had lost to Dregon. _Having to leave them….must have been tough on the guy._ _To leave a planet that he had been protecting for so long, and the people that had taken him in; I can't imagine what he must be going through._ I thought about my parents; how Mom had longed for Earth, and how she had been torn between going back and staying with the man that she loved. _She must have known that if Dad _had_ agreed to come with her to Earth then he would be suffering the same thing as Mom and Dex; homesickness, the loneliness of being the only alien on a planet full of humans. If Count Dregon had never tracked us down, would Dad really have made that sacrifice for Mom? Would he have really given up being with his own people just so he could be with his wife and daughter on a strange planet? _I now realized that I would never know the extent that my parents would go through to stay together.

I saw that Dex was kept turning his head this way and that, eyes roaming over his peoples heads until he finally caught sight of the person that he was most looking forward to seeing.

"Grandfather!" Dex called. Pushing past his people, Dex ran to his Grandfather who opened his arms and received his grandson with a hug. Dex's shoulders were shaking and he was saying something to his grandfather that we couldn't hear. Seeing Dex hug his grandfather reminded of me and dad and I felt pain again, but this time it was good pain. _Both of them are reunited after they've been apart for so long._ I smiled to myself, then Dex extracted himself from his grandfather's arms, turned and walked toward me, he grabbed my hand and led me toward the silver haired man. I smiled shyly at King Lexian noting that this was the first time that I had met him face to face. King Lexian smiled at me.

"Grandfather, I'd like you to meet Amy Karmer, my fiancée, she and her friends they helped me out loads of times in dealing with Count Dregon and his minions." Dex paused. Then with a glance at me he continued.

"It was her father that saved all of us Grandfather, he sacrificed himself to wipe out all evil and free our planet." I looked away; fresh tears were in my eyes. _I cry too easily._ I thought to myself angrily. I turned when King Lexian spoke. Understanding was in his eyes.

"Sacrifice….is never an easy thing to understand or to do. Your father must have thought that by sacrificing himself was the only way to wipe out all evil, to ensure that all in the universe would survive and continue on living in freedom and in peace. Other then saving the entire universe, he also saved his daughter and her friends." Tommy and the others had joined us and were looking at King Lexian; the people of Edenio had fallen silent.

"Please, do not grieve too long for what you have lost, for he has given you a new life and hope for the future, a future for yourselves and for the planet that he had called home for many many years. Live each of your lives to the utmost fullest, for now that the war is over, that is want he would have wanted you, all of you, to do."

"We will your majesty." said Kim. Tears were in her eyes and her voice was choked. All of us were crying and repeated her words in one voice.

"We will." He smiled at her then he turned to Dex again and placed on hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome home Dex."

There was a huge party, the biggest in the universe and everyone came. The Aquatar Rangers, Trey of Triforia, the Phantom Ranger, my team mates, even Ninjor! He explained that he had sensed all of us were in great need and began to wish that he could help instead of being stuck in the temple. The next thing he knew, he was teleported down to the battle field!

"It felt good to be fighting evil again." He said. Jason, Zack, Trini and the Stewart family were there as well. Albee kept looking around and seemed amazed beyond speech that he was actually on Dex's home world. Barbra and Hal were chatting with King Lexian and were laughing about something. _No doubt exchanging embarrassing stories about Dex_. I thought when I saw the look on Dex's face. The Blue Centurion and Auric were sitting at a table arm wrestling. Everyone, who was either alley or friend, was there. Except for two people.

TJ had told me that Astromena, who had been near Dad when Andros had smashed his tube, had been reverted back to her normal self as Karone, she as well as Andros were not present at the party. Andros, TJ told me, felt too ashamed of himself and guilty, killing the last family member that I had. I made a mental note to contact Andros later and to tell him what Dad had told me and that even though I had been devastated….I understood and would forgive Andros. Karone, on the other hand, thought that she had done too much damage to the universe to be welcomed with open arms, so she was going to take a bit of a break and then try to redeem herself for all that she had done to the various planets and people that she and her army had conquered. _I wish her the best of luck_. I thought to myself. I jumped when someone touched my arm, turning I saw that it was Kim.

"You alright?" she asked. Looking into my adopted sister's face and remembering how she was best friend's with Aisha I thought that now, was the best time she and the others were told about Aisha's death and Goldar.

"Can you gather the guys for me and meet me in the throne room of the castle?" I asked.

"Sure thing." She said with a puzzled look, she turned and began to make her way through the crowd. I stood still for a bit, and limped toward the palace. The castle itself was a large building; actually it looked like a castle that you would see on Earth. The walls and floor were made of stone yet painted a beautiful lavender color. The rooms were painted a different color, for the servants who lived in the castle would always confuse their rooms with someone else's. In back of the castle had been a beautiful garden with delicious fruit trees and lovely fragrant flowers; it would take time before any of these were to be seen on Edenio, considering the damage that Count Dregon had done to the planet, but with some hard work and perseverance, the planet would be beautiful again. I sat on a couple of steps which led up to the two thrones, turned my back to them and waited patiently for my friends. Clutching my hands together nervously, I wondered how they would react to the news that the monster that had killed Aisha was actually Goldar. More so the monster that they all thought that had really killed her; was me. I glanced nervously to the door; then jumped to my feet as my friends all walked in.

"What's up Short stuff?" asked Blue Elf as I resumed my seat on the stair. The others were looking around, taking in the fact in just a couple of days, Dex and I will be sitting on those two thrones, presiding over an entire planet. I was thinking of this also in the back of my mind but right now, I had more pressing things to do.

Taking a deep breath, I told all of my friends to sit down, while I stood up and made room for them. I looked at each of them, nervous and a growing sense of fear that they wouldn't believe me, that they would still accuse me of murder. _Don't think about that now. _ Taking a deep breath and I opened my mouth.

"What I have to tell….just hear me out okay?"

"Okay." said Tommy with a perplexed look on his face. Taking another deep breath and trying to steady my nerves, plus squash the fear that was rising within me, I began.

"You remember that monster that Zedd would unleash on Angel Grove? The one that had the incredible power?" I saw my friends straighten up.

"Yeah, that monster would attack us without warning then one day she just vanished." Kim said, she turned her head toward the others.

"We never really saw her again." I took another deep breath.

"Well, that monster….was me." I saw Kimberly's eyes widen and Tommy opened his mouth. I quickly launched into the job that I had been forced to carry out, what I went through every time I failed and after I had been released and joined with the Rangers; how I had worked my hardest to redeem myself for every horrible thing that I had been forced to do.

"I was going to tell you a couple of times, but Zedd stopped me, by showing me illusions of what you would say to me if you found out the truth." I paused.

"It was only after Goldar killed me that I _found out the truth._ Dad. He said "I release you from the last of Zedd's magic." Somehow, somehow, Zedd messed with my memories, making me think that I was the one that killed Aisha. And for a long time I thought that I had, but it turns out that Goldar was the one that…." My voice trailed off as I looked at my friends. All of us were silent for a long time, the party outside seemed from another universe, it didn't belong in this moment. Finally I couldn't take the silence anymore. They were all staring at me and I mistook their looks of pity for surprise and anger.

"Please say something." I whispered. Tommy stood up walked over and hugged me. Taking a step back he looked into my eyes and said.

"Ames….we know."

"Huh? What do…..How?..." I could only stammer while my friends gathered around me and hugged me tightly. They explained that they knew that I wasn't the one that killed Aisha.

"We were there remember, we saw it all go down." Kim said.

"But….but then if you knew….why didn't you tell me? " I asked still too shocked to be angry. Blue Elf had a sad look on his face.

"We wanted to Short stuff, we really did but….Zordon forbad us."

"Dad?" Billy nodded.

"Yeah, he was thinking of your mental health, he saw that your mind had been screwed with so many times that he thought that you were more than likely to be pushed over the edge."

"Yeah, and we all know how you are when you've been pushed to the brink." Tommy said with a sad smile on his face. _All this time they had known_, _all this time I was made to feel guilty for something that I didn't do._

"Wh…Why…..would Zedd…..?"

"It's more than likely; he made you think you were guilty and screwed with you so many times was because, he was afraid that you would one day rise up against him." I stared at Billy in shock and surprise. _Lord Zedd? Afraid of me? Somehow that doesn't seem like the Zedd I know. But….everything that he had done to me….it all makes sense somehow. The punishments the torture, he thought that he could make me so screwed up and afraid to be a Power Ranger that I would quit and go into hiding, then he could hunt me down and kill me. Huh, shows how much he knew._ I looked at my friends, and it surprised me that they were smiling.

"Just goes to show how wrong Zedd was about you, you faced him time and again and even though he did all that horrible stuff to you….you weren't afraid of him."

"Are you kidding me? Me! Not afraid of Zedd? Ha! I was terrified of him."

Yeah….but….you still managed to defeat him." said Tommy. I felt my own smile slide onto my face.

"Yeah, I did didn't I?" Suddenly feeling excited and elated and beyond happy, I raised two middle fingers into the air and shouted some words that I would have never repeated in front of my mother or father, my friends had soon joined me.

"We finally beat you, you bastard! Rot in hell! Ha ha ha!"

**One Year later:**

After taking a much deserved and needed vacation, Dex and I announced that we were going to be married in a month's time. Preparations took very little time.

I already knew who my bridesmaids were going to be, who I wanted to invite, and what kind of flowers I wanted, Kimberly and Zack both volunteered to perform the music for the wedding. Dex told me that most marriages on Edenio were done by the eldest Edenite, and since King Lexian was the oldest person on the planet, he would be the one to marry Dex and I; while at the same time pass down the crown. _I wonder if he's secretly relieved that he'll no longer carry the weight of responsibility that he's carried after all this time._ I thought to myself as Dex took me through the motions of the wedding ceremony. I must admit that I was extremely nervous and a little scared. From an ordinary girl who didn't know who she really was to a Power Ranger and now about to become queen of a planet….. my life had definitely taken some strange turns. _But after all the grief that I've been put through and all the pain, I have finally found happiness._ I thought.

As several women began to dress me in garments of a light green that set off my skin tone nicely. My hair was put into a twisted bun and adorned with flowers from Earth. Dex told me that the bride's hair was supposed to be adorned with flowers from Edenio.

My face was powered lightly with some sweet smelling perfume and a light green veil was placed over my face. As soon as the women had exited the room and I was alone, I limped over to the full length mirror and stared at myself; I let out a small gasp at what I saw; I was stunning, more than stunning…..I looked…..a lot like my mother on her wedding day on Earth. Dad didn't have any other pictures of us, save for that one framed photo that I had found in the house where I had grown up on Eltar. _No doubt that Count Dregon ransacked and destroyed any and everything that had to do with my mother father and me. And that probably included photo albums._ I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. _Dad…Mom….both of you are supposed to be here with me. Mom, you would be all a flutter that I'm getting married at such a young age, and you would probably be fussing over me like you did when I went to sixth grade camp. Dad….you should be the one to walk me down the aisle instead of Tommy, while you're watching the wedding ceremony, you would probably be trying to comfort Mom while at the same time trying to not to cry yourself. _I looked down at my locket and wrapped one hand around it tightly and wished that I could see my mother and father just one last time. I gave a small jump as I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning my head; I saw Tommy and not my father. He looked a bit embarrassed, while I felt disappointment.

"Sorry about that." He said. Then he looked at me up and down. I quickly rearranged my features so that he wouldn't know what I had been feeling when he had touched me.

"Wow! You look…..Wow!"

"Thanks." I gave him a small smile.

"Ready?" Swallowing back my nervousness I nodded and taking his arm he led me out of the room and into the courtyard. The courtyard had been decorated by the women of Edenio and my two sisters; and I had to admit the end result was astonishing. Vines of bluebells adorned the tent where all the guests were sitting, lanterns with different colored light twinkled from the ceiling.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw the number of people that had come to participate in the wedding. I clutched Tommy's arm, suddenly feeling overwhelmed and that all of this was moving too fast. He gave me a surprised glance then let out a soft laugh.

"You can take on monsters, Goldar, the Tengu Warriors, Piranhatrons, Cogs and every other enemy that we have faced, but you can't go through a simple wedding ceremony? Ha ha. Come on Ames, compared to what all of us went through, this should be a piece of cake." I turned to him furiously.

"Just wait until _you_ get married buster, then we'll see whose laughing." I turned back and saw that Dex was waiting for me in front of his Grandfather; both of them were dressed in robes of silver and gold. Kimberly and Kat were waiting in the last row of the seated guests; Kim turned, saw me and walked over.

"You alright?"

"Just nervous. I can hardly believe that this is happening. It's like the time I agreed to become the Yellow Ranger." Kimberly got my other hand and squeezed.

"Only this time, you won't be facing any monsters or crazy dictators and their henchmen. You'll be marring the man you love, who has been there for you thick and thin. Most of all you'll be happy. You deserve this Amy, after everything that you've been through, after everything that's been done to you….you deserve this." I turned to my friend and sister.

"Happiness, peace. You know for a long time now, I just thought that those two things were just….just dreams really, non reality. But now I see they are possible. In fact they've always been possible…..I just wish…." I was silent for a moment, Tommy spoke up.

"You know that they'll never leave you, not really, I mean Aisha was always watching over us and would come whenever we needed help. She was never _really _gone if you think about it."

"A Ranger until the end." said Kim softly. I looked at her and nodded, I turned once again to face the altar.

"Happiness and peace. After everything that I've been through, after everything that _we've _been through. All of us deserve peace and happiness; it's what we've been fighting for, for so long and now we finally have it now and forever. We are going to live our lives peacefully and happily."

"Yeah." Turning to Tommy and giving him a nod, Kim hugged me tightly then went back to her place beside Kat and walked beside her as they threw white rose petals onto the ground as Tommy and I went down the aisle. Glancing toward my friends; who were on one side of the altar; Blue Elf's mouth dropped open when he saw me, Adam, laughing, cupped his chin and closed his mouth for him; though it had still fallen open. Barbara was smiling and crying at the same time while Hal was struggling not to cry himself. The Aquatar Rangers were smiling, Tentomon and A-6, who had been polished and buffed, actually stood up and bowed to me as I passed. I blinked at them in surprise and nodded toward them in return.

It suddenly struck me that everyone would be calling me Queen Amy or Your Majesty from now on. I made a mental note to tell my friends and allies that they didn't really have to call me that, _do you know how weird that would be?_ I saw Billy and Cestria holding hands and grinning at me, Billy gave me a thumbs up while Cestria waved. Trey; as soon as we had passed; bowed to me. I stopped for moment and curtsied. Then continued until Tommy and I reached the altar. Tommy bowed low to King Lexian and Dex, and took his place beside Kat. I smiled at my friends, glad that they were with me, that they've always been with me. _I owe them a lot more than I could ever dream._ I turned to Dex; with his eyes full of love, nervousness and excitement, he smiled at me then as one we all turned toward King Lexian. Happiness and excitement seem to be radiating from both men.

"People of Edenio, Earth, Aquatar, and Triforia, it gives me great pleasure that we are all gathered here in peace and happiness to celebrate the union of two people…."

**The End**

**If you have any questions about the story or input on what should have been added, let me know, all in all thank you; thank you my readers for staying with me until the very end of Amy's journey. May the Power protect you always.**


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